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Author: Rick Veague

  • 3 Technologies Driving Business Sustainability

    3 Technologies Driving Business Sustainability

    The pandemic highlighted many things, not least of which was the shift in consumer behavior toward further encouraging companies to change their operations and act with sustainability in mind. An overwhelming 96% of businesses said the pandemic shifted their focus to the social component of environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies. Technology has been a key player in helping corporations quantify and tackle ESG issues in their sectors.

    A recent PwC and WEF report outlining the use of technology to drive large-scale sustainable change looked at 300 cases of emerging technology in relation to achieving global sustainable development goals. The study found 70% of their 169 targets could be enabled by technology applications.

    With the link between sustainability and technology clear to see, here’s where technology and innovative thinking are boosting sustainability in three key industry areas.

    Energy, Utilities & Resources Are on a Sustainable Transition Journey

    With 30% of overall greenhouse gas emissions stemming from power plants, it is not surprising that utility companies are under intense scrutiny and pressure to transition to green energy. Many are actively investing in renewable energies such as wind farms, hydro stations and solar power. “Green steel” is at the center of America’s 2030 greenhouse gas pollution reduction target, and the U.S. already generates around 11.4 million tons of hydrogen per year. All eyes are on these green steel initiatives that are showing that, with the right resources, there is plenty of potential to decarbonize the U.S. energy, utilities and resources sector.

    A Swedish partnership, which includes Europe’s largest iron ore producer and IFS customer LKAB, has delivered the first fossil-free steel in the world. The steel was made with 100% fossil-free hydrogen instead of coal and coke—paving the way for a completely fossil-free value chain for iron and steelmaking.

    As experienced by LKAB, enterprise software can strategically support the shift to a more sustainably focused energy, utilities and resources sector. To thrive, new business collaborations and joint ventures must be agile and able to develop at pace, unencumbered by restrictive enterprise solutions; to achieve both these goals, cloud deployment and full supply chain sustainability is key.

    Manufacturing–Closing the Loop Requires Supply Chain Visibility

    The manufacturing sector is another major industry facing complex challenges—and opportunities—on the path to sustainability. The time is now for manufacturers to drastically change their linear approach of material, manufacture, dispose and move toward a circular economy of reduce, reuse, recycle. This means adopting reverse logistics methods enabling manufacturers to integrate more environmentally friendly practices into their manufacturing processes.

    According to a recent Deloitte op-ed, “Through the use of digital technology, manufacturers may already have a head start in their sustainability journey. In recent years, the implementation of lean processes using digital capabilities has boosted productivity, created safer workplaces and reduced costs.” For example, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is helping manufacturers to develop and maintain the overall life of a product by using data and tracking of which areas need more sustainable practices. For instance, manufacturers embracing a circular model can rely on ERP software to help them maintain, recondition, recycle and support a product over an extended life cycle.

    And again, the software can incorporate environmental footprint management tools to capture the footprint of their product over its life cycle and present information that can be used for better decision support. By analyzing the percentage of post-consumer waste used in a product, manufacturers can then see where they can maximize the reutilization of components and preempt sustainability challenges.

    Aerospace and Defense—AI Predicting a Cleaner Future

    Every industry has a part to play in reducing carbon emissions, and the aerospace sector is no different, so it’s necessary and right that the industry is taking significant steps toward improved sustainability. Some of the key enabling technologies that will support this are highlighted by Global Data in its Thematic Research on ESG in Aerospace and Defense. The report highlights: “Electric aircraft, hydrogen-powered aircraft, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are key innovations that will shape the future of air travel. Improving social sustainability is vital for companies seeking to earn government contracts, increasing visibility and improving management throughout the whole supply chain will be vital.”

    From the Silver Spirit to the Spirit of Innovation

    Leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are highlighted in the report for applying innovative thinking to solve industry emissions challenges. Rolls-Royce, for example, has already announced the first flight of its all-electric “Spirit of Innovation” aircraft and has committed that by 2023 all of its Trent family engines will have been proven compatible with 100% SAF.

    The Rolls-Royce Trent, a family of high bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce, has been able to help airline customers automatically update predicted maintenance deadlines for every life-limited component inside their engines by using AI forecasting and digital twins through IFS aviation maintenance software. This forms a key part of the Rolls-Royce Blue Data Thread strategy; a digital information thread connecting every Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft, every airline operation, every maintenance shop and every factory.

    More effective maintenance will also translate into sustainability benefits. As the aviation industry moves toward a greener future, digitalization and predictive maintenance are important elements for the engineering side of the industry. By reducing the need for maintenance interventions, part replacements and overhauls, the use of energy and resources in manufacturing is reduced, and the emissions footprint of part and engine logistics is minimized.

    Turn to Tech to Sustain Green Pledges

    These are just three industries where technology is playing a pivotal role in achieving ESG goals. The case is clear: Sustainability initiatives can be accelerated by here-and-now technology such as IoT, AI, cloud deployments and more, not space age or future–focused solutions. The link between meeting customer demands, fulfilling environmental goals and greater profitability has never been closer. Technology will be a strategic business enabler to achieve all three.

  • Step Aside, Monoliths: Meet the Composable Enterprise

    Step Aside, Monoliths: Meet the Composable Enterprise

    A composable enterprise, defined by Gartner as “an organization that delivers business outcomes and adapts to the pace of business change”, relies on the assembly of interchangeable application building blocks. This architectural overhaul has largely been driven by a demand for more configurable application experiences, and the need to evolve existing application portfolios that are often too risky and costly to replace.

    New business opportunities require agility from application portfolios; however, many enterprises are still limited in their ability to adapt. Why? They rely on monolithic ERP systems and cumbersome legacy applications with static processes and haphazard structures. A modular setup can enable a business to rearrange as required depending on external or internal factors, such as shifts in consumer attitudes or sudden supply chain disruptions. Organizations are experiencing these shifts now and require a new approach to enterprise applications to be able to adapt. 

    Bridge the CX Gap with Greater Composability

    A composability approach is the best way to capture all the advantages of modern enterprise software. According to a recent Boomi report, by 2023 organizations that have adopted a composable approach will outpace the competition by 80% in the speed of new feature implementation. This shift requires enterprises to rethink how they architect their operations, harness a combination of packaged functions and technologies and successfully deliver seamless moments of service to their customers.

    There are three key ways that businesses can make the composability shift:

    • Adopting a service mindset
    • Scaling the delivery of microservices
    • Packaging business capabilities using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). 

    1. Designing for Service: Compete on Outcomes, not on Products 

    A composable enterprise whose portfolio is made up of heterogeneous applications from a palette of best-of-breed solutions allows organizations to address key inflection points throughout every customer, product or service lifecycle.

    As more consumers demand continuous value and reliability throughout an asset’s lifetime, businesses must shift to selling outcomes and experiences instead of products to meet these new expectations for quality service. This requires each part of an operation to align, not around immediate sales or revenue, but around delivering a quality Moment of Service™ — the inflection point where everything comes together to create better value and outcomes for customers. 

    Moving to a servitized model requires a composable stack to deliver services to order. At a systems level, this transformation requires organizations to adapt applications dynamically and deliver positive customer experiences with effective quality management, customer support, and access to complete information about the service offering. Unlike traditional enterprise software, this involves connecting data and applications that have often sat in separate silos. A composable enterprise can provide a service-orientated architecture, that enables businesses to become outcome-based and ready to quickly adapt to future disruptions. 

    2. Scale Component-based Architecture with Microservices

    If applications are built as loosely coupled services, then companies can employ a composable architecture to capitalize on independently deployable modules that are organized around business capabilities. This allows organizations to swap modules in and out, to suit emergent needs and build a well-structured best-fit solution for their unique business. 

    In contrast to a monolithic architecture, businesses can easily add resources to the most needed microservice rather than having to scale the entire application as demand for an application increases. In practice, this allows businesses to simplify customizable workflows and optimize business processes while leveraging and applying tools such as robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, or the plethora of hyper-automation capabilities available today.

    3. Embrace Open-ended APIs to Maximize Data-sharing Capabilities

    Packaged business capabilities (PBC) assembled using APIs are the foundation of every composable enterprise. They are used by businesses to secure data across cloud services, business systems and mobile applications. Historically, APIs have been used in monolithic applications to exchange data between the entire application and external applications and services. In composable software, APIs exchange data from individual modules to external applications and within the application — from module to module. This has significant implications for how systems are designed and built.

    APIs can provide a controlled and consumable method for connecting and sharing consumer and business data by creating experiences tailored to individual needs. For instance, an API-centric model can secure and manage data access to help businesses with faster decision-making and deliver relevant new services adaptable to market changes. In the future, there will be more automated continuous process improvements as machine learning models recommend, or even proactively make, process changes to improve outcomes for the business and end customer.

    Opt-in to the Composability Evolution

    To overcome the limitations of monolithic applications, businesses must rethink their approach to enterprise applications — starting with the business architecture and technology stack. A composable software architecture enables organizations to address the internal and external pressures that send shockwaves throughout the value chain. 

    As a composable enterprise, organizations can re-engineer their businesses to ensure customer touchpoints and stages come together for better moments of service, but companies must be certain that processes are optimized across each of these inflection points to mitigate issues and fuel growth. An IT architecture built on a foundation of composability will be essential to the successful delivery of a software-powered business development strategy that can provide continual value to customers and the business itself. 

  • Low-Code/No-Code and Simple APIs

    Low-Code/No-Code and Simple APIs

    In recent years, implementing AI and IoT technologies has been top priority for many organizations as their leading-edge capabilities have become a requisite for digital transformation – but the speed of their adoption is greatly influenced by the flexibility of supporting software. Enter low-code, no-code programming and truly open APIs.

    Low-code/no-code platforms are a promising alternative to traditional software platforms for non-technical business users; a more democratic approach to software development, built on either no or minimal code. The approach begins by minimizing external expenses and time required by outside developers or programmers as business analysts and line managers can now structure new process flows and functionalities.

    This is coming into sharp focus, as the increasing need to get new applications to market quickly is coupled with a growing demand for digital transformation from the C-suite. But to access the benefits, organizations must ensure that their underlying software can integrate well with external systems—introducing application programming interfaces (APIs).

    Low-Code/No-Code – The New Focus

    Analyst predictions have revealed an industrywide trend geared towards these platforms, as 60% of CIOs are set to employ low-code/no-code tools by 2025, with plans to bolster their output capacity. Other analysts expect to see 65% of all application development taking place in low-code/no-code environments by 2024. But, it is the openness of APIs that will determine the success of this software.

    APIs have reached new heights since the early days of component-based architecture, but today’s APIs are still inspired by Roy Fielding’s Representational State Transfer (RESTful) API.

    APIs – Providing Essential Internal and External Openness

    Some vendors will talk about how they have open APIs, but these are often limited and designed for specific, pre-determined integration scenarios. The application, in the meantime, internally communicates in a proprietary fashion that cannot be leveraged by external systems. To maximize the agility delivered by low-code/no-code tools, the entire application should be built on open APIs.

    Enterprise applications can go a step further by relying on the ISO/ICE–approved OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData), making things even more interoperable with more choice, flexibility and capabilities for customers. When the application is built on the same set of RESTful APIs it exposes to other systems, it is even easier to access the precise spot in a value flow with which organizations need to integrate.

    With the support of open APIs, there is an opportunity for companies to leverage low-code/ no-code tools and achieve crucial business returns in three ways:

    1. Undisrupted Connectivity

    A robust architecture built on RESTful Data APIs, documented according to the Open API Initiative specifications, gives organizations the ability to extend enterprise software on the outside to create task specific apps or connect to other systems.
    This may simply be used for automating steps around onboarding a new employee; for instance, filling in a desk number in an office floor plan, initiating payroll activities and creating an Outlook account. It could also populate a serialized part structure from a machinery manufacturing process into the software that will be used to annually service that piece of equipment. Any data, action or event should be accessible in a clear and thorough API library.

    With enough of these RESTful APIs, any number of low-code/no-code tools can be used to create targeted apps that interact with enterprise software and other systems running in a business. Commercial software offerings can be used to build an experience and drive processes in enterprise software.

    2. Digital Transformation Accelerated and Uninterrupted

    The main benefit of using RESTful APIs is that an organization’s external and internal systems can automate processes, expand access to data, and create extensions to their enterprise software on the outside. Regardless of whether an internal process automation (IPA) tool or external low-code/no-code process orchestration software is used, their ERP system should offer transparent access to the part of the system supporting any given integration or process automation.

    Here’s where a low-code/no-code approach helps to develop new solutions and industry specific functionalities that can be built faster, cheaper and with higher quality. Integrating a low-code domain-specific language (DSL) into solutions not only helps create value faster, but also insulates organizations from future technology changes. The DSL describes the intent of what a component in the application (for example, an API) should do, rather than how it is technically done.

    3. Increased Software Governance

    Low-code/no-code tools are also more commonly used to tailor how enterprise software works internally, giving organizations more control over their software. Software providers might currently offer the ability to extend the data model or to tailor the user interface and user navigation flow through a process to an organization’s specific needs, using no-code tooling. But this is not enough.

    Low-Code/No-Code: Go the Extra Mile

    Enterprise software platforms should offer intuitive low-code/no-code tools that will not only automate process steps or actions, but add machine learning capabilities for intelligent process automation. This democratizes the creation of intelligent systems by putting it within reach of business analysts and line managers—a simple what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

    Logical, Automated Processes

    With the IPA capability embedded into software, any additional input needed from users can be captured automatically. These capabilities can then be further enhanced with intelligent parts, such as AI and machine learning models, to make choices inside the automation about what to do next (branching decisions), or predicting values to be filled in.

    As the need to digitally transform continues to surge, enterprise solutions based on open APIs, strengthened by low-code/no-code programming, will become fundamental business tools—speeding up deployment times and delivering business value when it matters most.