Industry-Specific Cloud Solutions

About this issue

Industry fit in a changing business environment

How can enterprise software support the processes that make each business distinctive? ERP News Magazine Issue 25, March 2022, explores Industry-Specific Cloud Solutions through executive interviews, manufacturing analysis, customer experiences and finance perspectives. Editor Yagmur Sahin introduces industry specialization as a way to connect ERP capabilities with operational needs. The issue examines both the promise of cloud platforms and the work required to make transformation useful for employees and customers.

Executive interviews: industry expertise and tax automation

Jason Schaps, Head of Cloud/RISE with SAP for SAP North America, argues that ERP selection should begin with business and technical requirements, stakeholder input, industry knowledge and relevant customer references. He describes a cloud core extended through industry applications, with RISE with SAP combining ERP, business process intelligence, SAP Business Technology Platform and additional applications. His discussion emphasizes accountability across implementation and continuing customer success rather than treating a cloud sale as the final objective.

Liz Armbruester, SVP of Global Compliance at Avalara, describes her responsibility for global compliance operations and the preparation, filing and remittance of customers' taxes. She discusses integration with invoicing and billing systems, automation across the compliance journey and the pressures created by omnichannel commerce. Her explanation of Streamlined Sales Tax covers assistance through certified providers and participating jurisdictions. These program details and survey figures reflect the interview's 2022 context. Avalara's broader platform ambitions are presented as plans rather than completed universal coverage.

Several perspectives on industry-specific cloud

Stephen Edginton, VP of Product Development at Epicor, considers how industry functionality can reduce the amount of customization needed before organizations address their own differentiators. He connects ERP fit with partner expertise and capabilities such as warehouse management, CPQ and manufacturing execution. His cited cloud-adoption intentions are survey claims, not proof that all businesses completed a migration.

Lucy Thorpe's article, credited to InCloud Solutions and drawing extensively on Sapphire Systems contributors, begins with the customer's needs. It examines SAP and Infor industry offerings, microvertical functionality, partner marketplaces and the possibility of integrating specialist applications. A separate contribution with an Aptean biography for Jack Payne discusses requirements in food, discrete and process manufacturing, distribution and retail. Expert panels from Thorpe and TrustQuay Executive Chairman Keith Hale add views on implementation simplicity and industry fit; broad security and cost claims remain vendor opinions.

Customer experiences and the limits of reported outcomes

Nippon Gases Europe is consolidating a fragmented ERP landscape through SAP S/4HANA and RISE with SAP. The first UK site went live in October 2021, while further country rollouts were planned from 2022. The article reports more transparent processes and lower administrative demands without quantifying savings. Potential procurement and automation extensions are opportunities described by the company's technology leaders, rather than evidence of completed deployment everywhere.

Trutex, the schoolwear manufacturer featured in Priority Software's agile manufacturing article, adopted Priority ERP in 2006 to replace standalone systems. Its operations span wholesale, online and retail channels sharing one stock pool. The company describes improved demand visibility, tighter inventory control and fewer unnecessary movements from global factories, alongside support for fulfillment, procurement, WMS and manufacturing. Group Supply Chain Director John Hogan reports cost savings, but no amount or calculation is supplied.

Houston Food Bank selected NetSuite after increased demand exposed limitations in its legacy ERP. The story describes a unified approach to planning, orders and warehouse logistics, with expected improvements in online ordering, cycle counts and product tracking. Its earlier 20% distribution increase describes pandemic demand and operational response, not an achieved NetSuite improvement. The article mixes replacement wording with future benefit statements; it does not establish measured post-implementation results.

Manufacturing agility and practical transformation

Caleb Finch of QAD's Marketing Communications team explains fixed, programmable and flexible manufacturing automation, considering production, quality, safety and changing job roles. Efrat Nakibly, VP Marketing & Strategy at Priority, connects agile manufacturing with integrated workflows, analytics, asset management and scalable ERP. Both articles describe potential capabilities rather than universal productivity gains.

Brandon Lage, CEO of Fission Consulting, examines user experience during technology change, particularly private-equity carve-outs. He advocates a business case, pragmatic scope, incremental improvements and clear communication to reduce disruption. Marne Martin, President of IFS Service Management, similarly places customer outcomes and employee involvement at the center of continuing transformation. Amitabh Das Gupta, identified in the article as a Director at KPMG - Asia Pacific, uses marathon preparation to discuss readiness, manageable implementation stages, trusted partners and culture.

Finance, workforce collaboration and industry developments

Prophix CTO Geoff Ng examines cloud FP&A through data access, scenario planning, collaboration and security. His discussion uses findings from a 2021 Prophix/FSN survey; these are reported survey results rather than guaranteed forecasting accuracy. Joshua Dalton's FinanSys perspective, accompanied by Infor company information, considers finance business partnering and the communication skills needed to turn accounting data into advice. Unit4's article connects workforce agility with shared HR and finance information, while Syntax discusses Oracle Internet Expenses extensions for specialized expense and audit requirements.

The news section includes Oracle Field Service Workflow Manager, NTT DATA Business Solutions' cloud-renewal award, Todd Kisaberth's appointment at FinancialForce and Agiloft's HBR Consulting alliance. Sage announces Intacct Manufacturing in France, with wider rollout plans. Global Shop Solutions reports an installed solar project and projected long-term energy savings. Across these subjects, the issue treats industry knowledge, connected information and organizational readiness as complementary parts of ERP-led change.