With an abundance of raw materials and resources, Africa needs to rapidly find new ways to generate greater value from its manufacturing industry which has been identified as a fundamental driver of economic growth.

Looking to disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), bots, the Internet of Things (IoT), and machine learning, are revolutionizing industrial processes, and could save Africa’s manufacturing industry, where the adoption of technology thus far has been relatively slow.

In rapidly evolving markets, businesses today have no other option but to increasingly rely on data and analytics. Inundated with information, and the time is takes to correlate and gather multiple data can be tedious, often leading to errors. We’re only human after all. But with data warehouses, a company is provided with a practical, scalable solution. 

Procurement is often overlooked and undervalued, yet it impacts every facet of a business. Procurement and supplier relationships have an important role to play when it comes to ensuring manufacturers and distributors meet their strategic goals. Fortunately, strategic sourcing policies for procurement can provide the ultimate competitive advantage. It’s time to streamline the procurement process, harnessing technology to iron-out the kinks.

I recently had the experience of upgrading my Samsung phone to the S9+. Now for all the iPhone fans out there, this is not your cue to stop reading, this story has relevance to you too.

Upgrading a phone is always a contradictory emotional experience, on the one hand, you are excited to experience all the new features and capabilities, but on the other, you’re also a bit nervous as the transition may not be as seamless as it is supposed to be. Nonetheless, we soldier ahead.

More often than not a business’ worst horror stories are a direct result of miscommunication between departments.

Picture a business such as a catering equipment company that makes industrial ovens, stove and fridges according to customer needs and requirements. This type of environment is project intensive and requires many parts of the business to be involved and work together for successful delivery. If the sales department forgets to tell the purchasing department there’s a new project underway, by the time purchasing does become aware of the project, time is tight and they are forced to use a different supplier from the one they regularly use or incur late penalties.

We cannot plan the project or meeting for that date, it’s month end. We definitely can’t do training now, finance is up to their ears preparing for month end. The last week and the first week of the month are no go dates as finance will be drafting financials. We don’t have that information yet, finance is still finalizing the financials for last month.

My daughter is 8 years old and recently enthused about auditioning for the latest round of Idols but when I told her we would need to practice, so she could give an impressive and polished performance, she frowned. In her head, I think she thought she could just show up and do a song off-the-cuff and that was all there is to it.

Get Ready for More Changes in ERP Education

Every year SYSPRO runs an internship program offering young graduates and students an opportunity to learn the SYSPRO product, as well as to specialize as a junior consultant or software testing expert.