Opportunities and possibilities in times of Corona

Due to the Corona crisis the world has changed enormously in recent months. It has a huge impact on the economy and our daily lives. To start with the latter, we are of course all dealing with restrictive measures from the government and RIVM. For many, this means working from home, working in shifts in the office, factory or warehouse and at 1.5 meters. The employees of Cadran Consultancy and Cadran Analytics have been working from home for 5 weeks now in close consultation with our customers. This allows projects and support for our customers to continue normally. Remote working has now become very normal for both our customers’ and Cadran’s employees. There are pros and cons:

less travel time
no traffic jam
fewer disruptions in the workplace
sometimes disturbances due to the home situation
lack of personal contact
video meetings require more meeting discipline etc.

Overall, I feel that we have quickly learned to deal with the new reality. The productivity has not deteriorated and is sometimes even higher. I also think that the corona crisis is going to change the way we used to work now that we see that things can be done differently.

Making decisions based on data

The economic impact on companies is also variable. We see that our customers in the food industry, trade, chemicals and pharmaceuticals experience less negative effects than companies in mechanical engineering, textiles, automotive and wholesale (non-food). The corona crisis is forcing companies to take a closer look at their business processes and operations. Information from the ERP system, from suppliers, customers and the market is essential to make the right decisions.

What is my forecast?
What are the effects of corona on my supply chain and my customers’ customers?
What about the delivery performance of my suppliers?
Will my customers’ payment behavior change?
What is the impact on cash flow etc.?

Smart dashboards provide extra insight

We see that customers who have their Business Intelligence in place now benefit from this and can respond faster and more adequately. Our Analytics team can of course provide excellent support to our JD Edwards and Netsuite customers. Implementing a number of smart dashboards is often possible within a short time frame and leads to a lot of extra insight.

Optimize and / or automate business processes

Now that the economic activity at various companies has slowed down, this does offer the opportunity to think about the further optimization of the business processes. The digitization of processes through the Internet of Things offers opportunities to, for example, automate order processes or schedule your service technicians in time by placing sensors on your machines or those of your customers.

Product development of our teams

To simplify the transport of your goods, our Netsuite team recently developed a standard SuiteApp for Transsmart with links to more than 600 carriers. The CTRM team has developed a JD Edwards integration with Slack using the JD Edwards Orchestrator. This allows managers to approve orders on their mobile phone faster and easier. Our Analytics team has linked information from Bloomberg and several other sources to JD Edwards to support Traders in their decisions.

We like to think along with you

These are just a few small examples to optimize or improve processes. This difficult time also offers opportunities for your company. We are happy to use our knowledge and experience to think along with you. Although I expect that the effects of the coronavirus will continue to affect us for a few more months, economic activity may grow short after. Good preparation ensures that you will be able to profit to the maximum when the market picks up again.

Greetings from my home office,

Ed Pieters
CEO at Cadran Consultancy