Remote Working with ERP

About this issue

Remote Work Becomes an ERP Design Question

How can organizations keep decisions, information and business processes moving when their teams are dispersed? ERP News Magazine Issue 14, dated February 2021, examines remote working with ERP against the lessons of 2020. The issue connects access to cloud applications with wider questions about implementation, manufacturing resilience and the ability to change business processes. Its contributors look beyond temporary workarounds to the operational foundations needed for sustained collaboration.

Executive Perspective: IFS Turkey

Ergin Öztürk, identified as CEO of IFS Turkey, discusses the company's regional development and the relationship between digital transformation and business strategy. His interview considers ERP, enterprise asset management and field service management as connected parts of an organization's operating model. He places particular emphasis on industry expertise, local financial and regulatory requirements, experienced consultants and continuing support.

For organizations choosing ERP, Öztürk recommends identifying concrete needs, evaluating technical and industry fit, examining independent research and speaking with reference customers. His account of rising interest in transformation draws on IFS research and experience in Turkey, while his growth expectations and service-sector priorities remain forward-looking. Oliver Pilgerstorfer, IFS Chief Marketing Officer, separately previews the March 10 IFS Cloud launch and the intention to embed newer technologies more directly in everyday business processes.

Customer Stories and Deployment Context

Linea Light Group's Infor LN deployment, managed by partner 2WS, illustrates a staged international program. The lighting manufacturer reports process standardization, integration and simplification across branches. The account describes deployment waves involving the UK, Singapore, France, Poland and Germany, with an interface to the Italian corporate AS/400 system and later business-intelligence integration. Further geographic extensions were still planned. The story therefore combines reported achievements with an ongoing program, rather than a completed global rollout.

LKAB selects an IFS cloud enterprise asset management solution as part of a broader move toward data-driven mining. The intended scope includes more than 4,000 staff and partners. Digitalization and automation support its productivity and environmental ambitions, including a long-term carbon-dioxide-free production goal. These ambitions frame the selection; they are not achieved environmental outcomes attributable to the new system.

Crafter's Companion provides a remote implementation example in Nicky Tozer's Oracle NetSuite success story. After outgrowing disconnected systems, the company adopts SuiteSuccess for Wholesale Distributors across finance, inventory, planning, logistics and operations. The article reports a 90-day remote implementation, faster month-end processes and an efficiency improvement of 30%, attributed to the customer's Head of IT, Max Lyne. Ecommerce and carrier integrations support order fulfilment. The account distinguishes these reported operating benefits from the company's wider sales growth and future direct-to-consumer plans.

Lucy Thorpe's remote-working contribution includes Lloyd's Register testimony about maintaining operations and remote audit work after an earlier cloud ERP transformation. SAP and Microsoft's partnership announcement adds customer perspectives from Carhartt, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Coats on information access and collaboration. Oracle's logistics update includes White Cap testimony about using transportation analysis to compare carrier costs, with an approximately 6% average cost reduction reported by its logistics analyst. These are attributed customer accounts, not universal performance guarantees.

Manufacturing and the Year Ahead

Jack Payne, Aptean's Solution Consulting Director for Food & Beverage and Process Manufacturing, proposes five improvement priorities: anticipating unusual demand, operational flexibility, sustainability, nutritious product ranges and employee welfare. His analysis connects forecasting and production decisions with changes in channels, packaging and consumer preferences. Robin Irvine, General Manager at Avaap, examines cloud adoption, industry-specific functionality, remote implementation and changing software-selection expectations in manufacturing.

Tom Brennan, CMO of Rootstock Software, argues for low-code cloud ERP as a way to adapt processes more quickly. His road-themed analysis considers workforce expectations, customization and the costs of remaining on older platforms. An unnamed manufacturer provides an illustrative choice between upgrading legacy software and adopting a modern cloud platform; it is not presented as a named implementation with verified savings.

Lucy Thorpe, Head of Content at InCloud Solutions, contributes both an account of remote-working readiness and a wider view of ERP trends. She links cloud access to leadership, digital preparedness and practical benefits from analytics and automation. Nishant Joshi, Technical Writer at Sage Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, discusses cloud adoption, mobile access, AI, reporting and remote employee/customer processes in two articles. John Peterson's separate remote-working article adds information sharing, teamwork and isolation to the discussion. QAD's Chris Devault contributes an expert perspective on AI, IoT and data flow.

Platforms, Integration and Industry News

The news section covers SAP and Microsoft's expanded partnership, planned Teams integrations and S/4HANA deployment on Azure. RISE with SAP is introduced as a business-transformation offering, while Oracle announces logistics capabilities involving machine learning, trade rules, connected shipments and digital assistance. Lumenia previews its March ERP HEADtoHEAD virtual comparison event. Amanda Brown, Software AG's Director of Product Marketing for IoT & Analytics, closes the technical discussion by examining device connectivity, platform choices and deployment location. Together, these contributions frame remote working as a continuing systems and organizational challenge: access matters, but so do usable information, integration and the capacity to adjust how the business works.