• More medium and large enterprises will invest in enterprise-wide applications. These are mainly manufacturing oriented or service driven companies.
• The use of ERP is widespread, and 63 percent of the companies already have some ERP in place.
• This year 42 percent companies plan to invest in ERP, a major chunk of this will be from Govt./PSUs.
• 55 percent of Auto & Auto components companies plan to invest in SCM.
• Over 50 percent companies in the BFSI vertical plan to invest in some sort of CRM solution.
• The BFSI vertical is also in the forefront of data warehousing/mining applications.
• After the dot-com bust, e-business initiatives are clearly on the decline.

• Process- or production-oriented companies should implement ERP to improve the integration between departments, thereby streamlining operations and cutting costs.
• Fast growing, customer driven businesses (like banks, telecos, ITES companies) will benefit the most from CRM.
• Focus more on analytical CRM rather than just operational CRM. A combination of both, depending on business needs, is required.
• Remember that a CRM solution is not an end in itself. It should be supplemented by training and monitoring of customer service executives.
• Companies can derive more value from transactional or operational data by using analytical data warehousing/ data mining solutions.
• SCM is recommended for industries that deal with movement of goods (between warehouse and retail, factory and warehouse, etc).
• Companies should give e-business a second look. E-business will help companies cut further costs by creating a seamless web between its suppliers, distributors, and customers.

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) uses SAS Customizable CRM Solution to analyze huge volumes of data captured by its OLTP systems. The solution aids the bank in performing numerous business critical activities and in providing excellent customer service.

Analyze transactional data
Standard Chartered Bank uses OnLine Transaction Processing (OLTP) system to facilitate and manage transaction-oriented applications. The bank realized that it needed to go a step further and deploy a solution that can be used to analyze the huge volumes of data captured by the OLTP systems. Says Sedjwick John Joseph, Head-Business Intelligence Unit, SCB, "Any bank today cannot ignore the risk:reward equation. It is the process of applying a variety of scoring techniques across product lines to arrive at the probable risk associated with each product sale and the possible rewards. We wanted the solution to leverage information on customer profiles and segments and enable us to spread our risks based on empirical data analysis." After evaluating number of solutions, SCB chose SAS as the solution partner across Asia for its customer analytics.

Customer-centered approach
The solution has helped the bank effectively manage and optimize profitability of all the products that constitute its retail portfolio. The implementation has resulted in focused marketing campaigns, reduced costs, and improved customer acquisition and/or satisfaction. The bank can now exploit changing and widening markets; implement a customer-centric approach; concentrate on financial budgeting, cost control, and risk management. SCB plans to embark on SAS' data mining technologies for various predictive modeling and advanced scoring initiatives to strengthen its risk management framework in the area of retail lending.

Hero Honda Motors has implemented SAP R/3 Release 4.6B to consolidate disparate applications that ran on different departmental servers. It used modules like production planning, materials management, quality management, and sales & distribution. It implemented plant maintenance, human resources and payroll modules, and upgraded SAP R/3 from 4.6B to 4.6.

Consolidate operations
Pre-ERP, the company had diverse operations running in different locations. To get a hold over this diverse operations it needed to consolidate various departmental applications in areas like accounting, inventory management and so on under the same roof.

After implementing SAP, it is now possible to integrate data and enable common master sheets that can be used across various functions like transaction, validation, accounting, and reporting.

Better cost control
Using SAP, Hero Honda was able to implement better cost control measures. Says S.R. Balasubramanium, CIO, Hero Honda, "The ERP made it possible to calculate cost of consumables, tool inventory cost, power & fuel costs, and plant overheads. There were improvements in the quality, access, and usage of transactional data."

There was emphasis on carrying business process improvement by removing several non-value processes on regular basis, adopt best business practices and carry out BPRs (Business process re-engineering) to derive best business value. Few BPRs implemented: Quality check removal of components (self certification of supplied goods by vendors); Migration of discrete to repetitive manufacturing strategy; and Bar coding at entry gate. Post implementation the company also experienced improvement in operational processes at various stages. It also readied the organization for future SCM (Supply Chain Management) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) implementation.

Additional modules
The company plans to implement ESS (Employee Self Service) module. It also plans to implement SCM applications to seamlessly connect and manage its dealers and vendors.