Manufacturing Magazine April 2023 | Page 36

SAP
If things are running effectively , things are running safely , and in a very energy-friendly manner as well .”
Castro views the impact of the cloud on manufacturing as a positive one .
“ There are benefits for the IT team from a maintenance perspective and a continuous update and management of that software package ,” he explains .
Cloud users are not dealing out of sync or outdated documentation , they ’ re not dealing with security issues that creep into the environment over time . Updates and patches are handled in real-time by the cloud hosting and software provider , that SaaS provider in the cloud environment . Castro views offloading that burden from the manufacturing layer and the IT teams that support them centrally and locally as a big deal for organisations and businesses .
“ It keeps that barrier to entry for managing efficient production and tracking off of those teams , and it puts it firmly on the shoulders of the software provider . What does that mean for the business ? It means that the end users aren ' t working with stale software . You ' re not working with software that has a UI from 15 years ago . You ' re not working with an ad-hoc analytical environment that used to be cool but now uses plug-ins and stuff that your browser doesn ' t support and ultimately causes it to have problems ,” Castro explains . As businesses are not dealing with these issues from the end user perspective , they ' re able to take advantage of a very modern , easy to consume and use software experience and focus on their core business functions .
“ Despite not directly interacting with it , the work around you is what ' s driving that environment for you ,” says Castro . “ You ' re not putting that burden of three or four extra clicks on somebody , this is just software that ' s being driven from digital signals ; from

€ 27.84bn

Total Revenue ( Non-IFRS ) in FY2021

1972

Year founded

2022

50th Anniversary

# 1

Software company in Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 15 years
integration , automation , and the tasks that the operator is performing .”
This newer approach to software design is how SAP leverages the industry investment companies have made and it is what ' s ultimately reducing the impact that end users have on that environment themselves .
How manufacturers can focus on business value versus technology There are different pillars within organisations , which have their own priorities . CEOs , CIOs , CTOs and CFOs are all working together and have overlapping needs that drive different business cases . But they need to have the right information at the top layer to make the right decision for the lowest layers within the organisation . This doesn ' t happen unless there is a framework in place for the distribution
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