Oil Tanker Tech
I recently
participated in the implementation of the SAP Business One product in an
argentinian company dedicated to renting oil tankers for fluvial transportation
throughout the argentinian Mesopotamian rivers. Now consider something very
important, a software implementation can be used not only for the technical
benefits of the software itself but also as a way of reorganizing the
departments and drive efficiency. A product aimed at small and middle sized
companies, an implementation of this product is supposed to last no more than 6
months. Yet, after many twists and turns Go Live date was postponed many times.
One of the
reasons was that the software was sold as a bi-monetary system, but did not
comply with argentinian accounting standards, meaning Fixed Assets and
Inventory are in Argentina
mainly “priced” in USD a situation very atypical in other countries which value
these assets in local currency. This caused the Accounting Department to lose
confidence in the software and implementation team, proceeding to thoroughly
test the system to verify compliance both from an accounting and tax
perspective.
Another reason
for the delay was the implementation of another system called SAION that would
serve as communication by satellite between the ships and SAP. The personnel in
the ships would load the materials and inventory information to SAION on board,
and this information was to be transmitted to land by a satellite signal. This
process, though complicated, was very sophisticated and an interesting
technological development. Due to the complexity of the implementation and
after a change in Management this advancement was aborted, finally agreeing on
sending the information to land in an excel file that would later be uploaded
manually to the SAP.
After a year and
a half of pushing through strong corporate resistance, the implementation was
divided in two: a light implementation including accounting and basic
logistics, and a subsequent phase involving deeper logistics. The first
implementation phase went on not without resistance and complaints, but was
smoothly implemented; and the second phase is still in process focusing more on
the advantages in K.P.I.s for management.
Consider the
history of this company: in the past National Oil company Y.P.F. had it’s own
oil tank service, when it was privatized this service provider was established
to provide external carriage service to Y.P.F. and other Oil players in the
local market. Even if the company has subsisted for a couple of decades, the
business model is difficult to export considering the big investments required
and the difficulties of engaging in business in the oil markets in other
countries. Could this business model be applied in Brasil, for example? It
would imply access to huge capital investment as well as business relationships
difficult to access for small foreign companies. But remember that businesses
are forced to innovate and expand or they will not resist the test of time.
Where is the potential then to build and grow an exportable business model for
such a company?
Revolution 4.0,
the fourth industrial revolution, implies a shift in mindset to all sorts of
companies, be it start ups, middle sized or big companies. Applying revolution
4.0 to the Oil Tanker industry is the solution to expand globally, by producing
the technology to provide services to the industry and then export these
services. The SAOIN project that was aborted missing the big picture: once implemented this solution could be branded and easily exported to
other players in the industry worldwide. As described in the Lean Start Up
defined by Eric Ries, companies can support the establishment of Innovation
SandBoxes.
An Innovation
Sandbox can be defined as ‘A digital environment and toolset which enables
large groups of stakeholders to act autonomously and without hierarchy in the
building of innovative concepts and solutions’. The main purpose of an
innovation sandbox is to allow individuals to collaborate collectively in real
time in the act of problem solving, opportunity identification and concept building
without the communicative and logistical barriers which emerge in larger
organizations, a result of structural considerations such as siloed
departments, lack of access to relevant decision makers, and the ability for
individuals lower down the power spectrum to have their voice hear. Social
mechanics and high quality user interfaces (such as those seen on public social
networking platforms i.e. Facebook and Twitter) are deployed to increase
participation rates and ensure that stakeholders are sufficiently engaged with
the collaborative efforts.
The products
developed in the Innovation Sandboxes can be later absorbed by the
organization, or be branded and sold separately to the industry. By supporting
the creation of Start-Ups to provide technology services to the Oil Tanker
industry, small companies such as the one I provide in this example can easily
escalate and globalize. Whether the project is carried out as an internal
project or as an external project to serve the organization, applying Revolution
4.0 to provide the technology as a service for the industry is the way to go.
As economies become digital and the technology sector is accountable for a
larger share of GDP, companies will need to be creative, innovative and
technology orientated not just to progress but to survive the test of time.
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