Why enhanced ERP is ticket to agility in digital world
Gautam Nimmagadda, CEO of Quixy.
Software applications services provider, Navayuga infotech South Africa, part of India-based multinational conglomerate, Navayuga Group, the company behind the low-code no-code platform Quixy, says being able to innovate at scale and sustain a high level of excellence requires skill – and next-gen ERP.
Navayuga infotech South Africa has embarked on a strategic campaign to offer its technology expertise to support public and private sectors to digitally transform at a faster pace. This campaign includes information and networking events, run in partnership with ITWeb, to engage directly with decision-makers.
Speaking at the ITWeb Navayuga Accelerating Digital Transformation event hosted on 25 August, at the Eagle Canyon Golf Estate in Johannesburg, Gautam Nimmagadda, CEO of Navayuga Infotech and Quixy, said the ability to enhance ERP is a fundamental building block in the progressive journey of digital transformation.
“The core idea of our group has always been innovation and excellence, and being able to do the excellence at scale,” said Nimmagadda. “At the core of our DNA is innovation and to be able to continuously provide value-add solutions for customers.”
The company’s track record in solution deployment includes large-scale ERP solution deployment for key sectors, including government, safety and security, civil service, and transport.
For example, it developed and implemented the Airport Information Management System, a platform upon which all of India’s 157 airports are centrally managed, including operational aspects, maintenance, invoicing and airline services.
India is the only country globally where all airports have been integrated and centrally managed on a single platform, said Nimmagadda.
Navayuga infotech South Africa successfully implemented other large-scale projects in South Africa.
“We deployed a solution for Transnet where all the seaport operations are managed on one single platform,” Nimmagadda explained. “This is the only country where all the seaports have been brought onto one single platform where it operated seamlessly. It has now been running successfully for eight years.”
But successful integration of new platforms with existing ERP and the ability to automate, centrally manage all business units, databases and systems, requires a different approach to ERP.
Challenge and pressure
Navayuga stressed that existing legacy ERP systems are not designed to withstand the pressure of increasing volumes of data, system integration, automation, connectivity and other aspects of digital transformation.
Another frustration for stakeholders in large implementations is that project requirements are not always fully captured, which leads to non-alignment between what is initially required from an IT system integration and what is finally delivered.
“One thing that has constantly frustrated us is when we are not able to deliver delight to the customer,” said Nimmagadda.
He explained that the legacy process began with initial customer engagement to ascertain and fully capture requirements and deliverables to meet these requirements.
What then happens is that the requirements are reviewed, and a blueprint is prepared for designers. The design team works off this blueprint and comes up with a solution design for the DevOps team.
This team then works tirelessly to ensure a solution is introduced and fully tested, covering everything from functional and non-functional items, security, etc.
“Then we reach the point where we proudly introduce the solution to our customer, and they are not happy. Our hearts inevitably break. The crux of the problem is that the customer, though he has cleared the requirements, there is misalignment or misunderstanding or the business analysts do not capture the requirements fully.”
However, Navayuga Infotech South Africa continues to innovate and refine its software offering to address critical business-building requirements and the impact of 4IR technologies, including AI, big data analytics, the cloud, machine learning and robotics.
Delegates at the event heard a presentation by former Springbok Percy Montgomery, who spoke of how important agility is in business and in life.
This was followed by lunch and a round of golf at Eagle Canyon’s 18-hole golf course.
The group has a $1 billion-plus annual turnover and has operations in Africa, the Middle East and the United States.
