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Objectives and Key Results (OKRs): Aligning Strategy and Execution

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs): Aligning Strategy and Execution

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In many growing organizations, the strategy crafted at committee level does not always translate into concrete actions. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) provide a clear framework to bridge the gap between long-term vision and daily execution. By structuring ambitions into qualitative objectives and measurable key results, this management approach strengthens priority alignment, accelerates decision-making, and prevents the scattering of initiatives. Adopting OKRs shifts the focus from overall optimization to key metrics, ensuring genuine alignment between leadership and operational teams.

Clarifying the Vision and Structuring OKRs

OKRs establish a shared vision by aligning each objective with the overall strategy. They impose a clear working framework that limits initiatives to focus efforts.

Defining Ambitious and Inspiring Objectives

The first step is to formulate qualitative objectives that are easy for all stakeholders to understand. These objectives should reflect the organization’s overarching vision and motivate teams with their strategic scope.

Each objective must be ambitious enough to drive corporate innovation, yet grounded in operational realities. The challenge is to create collective momentum without generating frustration over unattainable targets.

Organizations benefit from drafting these objectives in a few powerful words, thereby avoiding dilution of meaning. This clarity facilitates internal communication and mobilizes teams around key issues.

Translating Ambition into Measurable Key Results

Each objective is associated with 2 to 5 key results that translate ambition into quantifiable indicators. These metrics allow you to know precisely whether the objective is on track.

The key results should be focused on business impact: revenue growth, cost reduction, improvement of customer satisfaction, or market share gains. They describe success criteria, not tasks.

This measurement-based approach ensures transparent and objective management, avoiding endless debates about progress. The emphasis remains on actual outcomes rather than task completion.

Prioritizing and Limiting the Number of Initiatives

To remain effective, organizations should select a limited number of OKRs per quarterly cycle. This constraint forces a focus on the most critical strategic issues.

In practice, too many initiatives dilute resources, create complex dependencies, and slow delivery cadence. Discipline requires saying “no” to non-priority projects.

For example, a Swiss financial services firm reduced its portfolio from 15 to 5 OKRs per quarter, which cut decision-making time by 30%. This example demonstrates the concrete impact of strict prioritization on organizational responsiveness.

Aligning Leadership and Teams

OKRs foster a shared understanding of priorities through regular cross-functional communication. They empower each team by establishing an explicit link between strategy and operational deliverables.

Cross-Functional Deployment and Communication

OKRs cascade from the executive level down to business teams, while still allowing for local initiative proposals. This dual direction ensures both buy-in and coherence.

Weekly or biweekly check-ins enable sharing progress, surfacing roadblocks, and making quick adjustments. These short rituals strengthen cross-functional collaboration.

Total transparency—via shared access to OKR dashboards—prevents silos and blind spots. Everyone can see how their actions impact the overarching objectives.

Empowerment and Autonomy

By defining key results, each team is free to choose its own initiatives to meet targets. This approach stimulates creativity and engagement.

Leadership maintains a supporting and arbitration role, without imposing a detailed roadmap. Teams adapt their execution to field conditions and stakeholder feedback.

This autonomy boosts motivation and deployment speed. Employees clearly perceive how their actions contribute to the company’s ambitions.

Regular Reviews and Priority Adjustments

Rather than exhaustive reporting, OKRs rely on short review sessions. Fifteen- to thirty-minute checkpoints cover progress and identify decisions to be made.

These brief sessions instill strategic agility: when circumstances change, priorities can be revised without overhauling the entire organization or bogging down processes.

Continuous adaptation reduces gaps between initial planning and market reality, ensuring execution remains relevant.

Steering, Measuring, and Continuously Adjusting

Tracking OKRs involves clear metrics and simplified reporting to focus management on what truly matters. Periodic reviews allow course corrections and strategic route optimization.

Periodic Monitoring and Dashboards

An OKR dashboard centralizes the key results, updated in real time or at defined intervals. Each metric includes a progress scale (e.g., 0–25–50–75–100%).

Immediate visualization of the gap between target and current value guides resource allocation and decision-making. Alerts for significant deviations trigger corrective actions.

This visual management breaks down silos and holds everyone accountable: all stakeholders, from leadership to teams, work from the same reference point.

Quarterly Reviews and Pivots

At the end of each quarter, a strategic committee evaluates OKR achievement and decides on adjustments. Objectives can be revised, halted, or maintained based on the value delivered.

An illustrative example: a Swiss industrial SME halted a digitization project deemed unprofitable mid-cycle, reallocating resources to a higher-impact development. This pivot achieved a return on investment twice as fast, highlighting the value of agile review.

This quarterly discipline prevents persistent investment in relevant initiatives while favoring high-value innovations.

Learning and Feedback Loops

At the end of each cycle, a qualitative debrief analyzes successes, failures, and lessons learned. This retrospective feeds into the next planning phase.

Transparency around controlled failures fosters a culture where mistakes become learning sources rather than taboos. Teams feel empowered to propose ambitious initiatives.

These regular feedback loops gradually refine best practices, strengthen collective efficiency, and sharpen strategy with each iteration.

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Embedding OKR Culture and Governance

Successful OKR adoption relies as much on mindset as methodology. Transparency, empowerment, and the right to controlled failure are essential cultural pillars.

Transparency and the Right to Fail

Publishing OKRs and their progress levels unfiltered demonstrates an open culture. This transparency encourages solidarity and collective problem-solving.

Granting the right to fail, provided failures are analyzed, stimulates experimentation and innovation. Teams understand that calculated risk-taking is valued when managed.

An e-commerce platform implemented OKRs for a pilot project that failed but was documented and analyzed, laying the groundwork for future successes based on learned insights.

Clear Separation Between OKRs and KPIs

KPIs measure recurring operational performance (uptime, customer satisfaction), while OKRs focus on strategic progress. This distinction prevents confusion.

OKRs are not used for individual evaluation or direct compensation. They serve as management tools, not performance ratings. KPIs remain the indicators for monitoring stability and business performance.

This separation ensures that the willingness to take calculated risks is not hindered by a performance-reporting framework focused solely on routine metrics.

Training, Coaching, and Support

OKR adoption requires initial support: manager training, team coaching, and definition of rituals. This support fosters rapid ownership of the framework.

Establishing “OKR champions” in each department facilitates the spread of best practices and experience sharing. They act as cultural catalysts.

With this support structure in place, OKR discipline embeds into processes and avoids becoming a mere formal exercise with no lasting impact.

Implementing Agile, Aligned Strategic Management

The OKR framework effectively connects strategic vision to operational actions by structuring ambitions into clear objectives and measurable results. This management approach promotes leadership-team alignment, decision-making agility, and empowerment at all levels.

To maintain strategic focus in an uncertain environment, cultivating transparency, regular reviews, and controlled learning is essential. Organizations gain responsiveness and optimize resources on high-value initiatives.

Our experts are available to co-create an OKR deployment tailored to your context, ensure cultural integration, and support your teams’ skill development.

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PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.

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Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Hotel Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems: Driving Revenue Beyond the Room

Hotel Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems: Driving Revenue Beyond the Room

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In a landscape where hotel revenues are fragmenting beyond simple room rentals, the point-of-sale (POS) system becomes a cornerstone of the digital ecosystem.

Beyond the cash register, it orchestrates billing for restaurants, bars, spas, and other ancillary services, while interfacing with the Property Management System (PMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and accounting tools. This central role not only optimizes operations but also generates consolidated, actionable data to refine commercial strategy and enhance the guest experience. IT and business leaders must rethink the POS as a lever for overall performance and operational agility.

Hotel POS at the Heart of the Digital Ecosystem

The hotel POS is no longer limited to checkout: it unites all outlets within the property. It ensures transaction consistency and the traceability of ancillary revenues, from restaurants to in-room services.

From One-Time Checkout to Service Convergence Point

The traditional POS was confined to recording guest payments at the point of sale. This fragmented approach complicated data consolidation and led to discrepancies between services, especially when guests wanted to charge expenses to their room.

By enhancing the POS with interfaces to the PMS, each transaction—whether dining, spa, or retail—automatically integrates into the guest’s folio. IT system integration via API centralizes postings in real time.

This convergence point ensures seamless billing and provides a unified view of performance by outlet, simplifying both daily closings and monthly analyses. This perspective relies in particular on business intelligence approaches.

Streamlining Internal Processes and Operational Visibility

With configurable workflows, the POS regulates back-office operations: printing kitchen tickets, minibar consumption alerts, or automatic closure of promotional offers.

Managers can define business rules (thresholds, discount authorizations, time slots) directly within the POS, without relying on scripts or manual tweaks. This modularity enhances team responsiveness and ensures consistent application of pricing policies.

Moreover, extracting detailed reports through the POS allows real-time monitoring of key performance indicators—cover counts, top-selling items, occupancy rates of ancillary services—and adjusting operational strategy accordingly.

University Campus Example

A university centralized billing for its cafeteria, bookstore, and cultural event ticketing on a single POS platform. Automated transaction processing reduced reconciliation time by 40% and improved data reporting to the finance department.

Real-Time Synchronization and Seamless Billing

The ability to synchronize POS transactions with the PMS in real time is now a critical criterion. This integration reduces billing errors, accelerates check-outs, and optimizes ancillary revenue.

API Integration and Instant Guestfolio Updates

REST or WebSocket APIs enable the POS to send each sale immediately to the PMS. REST APIs ensure instant transmission of room service or minibar consumption without manual intervention.

This synchronization prevents the billing discrepancies often observed at check-out and eliminates the need for CSV imports or other manual manipulations, which are prone to errors and delays.

Reducing Errors and Accelerating Payment Processes

Automating room charge transfers reduces the risk of overlooked or duplicate billing. Staff can focus more on guest service and issue resolution rather than administrative tasks.

Express check-outs become possible through kiosks or mobile apps, enhancing guest satisfaction and reducing front desk queues.

Moreover, immediate billing improves cash flow, as transactions are recorded as soon as they occur, without consolidation delays.

Manufacturing Facility Example

A manufacturing facility deployed a mobile POS for its employee canteen and merchandise kiosk. Payment convergence cut daily closing time by 50% and improved visibility into each outlet’s performance.

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Cloud Architecture and Mobility Challenges

The choice between cloud or on-premises POS and between fixed or mobile terminals is no longer just technical but strategic. It determines scalability, operational agility, and data governance across the property or group.

Cloud vs On-Premises: Security and Scalability

A cloud POS offers continuous updates, simplified maintenance, and high availability, all based on proven security standards. Cloud vs on-premises hosting lets you compare advantages depending on context.

Conversely, an on-premises deployment may appeal for reasons of sovereignty or data control but incurs operational costs and requires internal expertise to manage updates and security.

Mobility and Self-Service: Flexibility and Guest Experience

Mobile terminals or tablets equipped with POS apps offer maximum flexibility for F&B teams, reducing walk time and guest wait times. They perfectly integrate into assisted-service models, where staff take orders directly at the table.

Self-service via self-cleaning kiosks or mobile apps complements the offering, especially for breakfasts, bars, or snack points. This model limits physical interaction—an advantage in health-sensitive contexts—while preserving automatic billing.

Each deployment mode (fixed, mobile, or self-service) requires tailored interface and workflow design to ensure quick adoption and coherence with the PMS.

Omni-Channel Retail Brand Example

An omni-channel retail brand unified its in-store payment kiosks and click-and-collect platform on a cloud POS system. This centralization enabled simultaneous deployment of new features across multiple outlets, reducing promotional time-to-market and improving customer satisfaction.

Guest Experience and Marketing: Unlocking Transactional Data

A POS integrated with CRM and marketing tools transforms raw data into relational opportunities. Detailed segmentation, personalized offers, and loyalty programs leverage the consumption journeys captured in the system.

Segmentation and Offer Personalization

By leveraging consumption data collected by the POS, marketing teams can define segments based on purchasing behavior (visit frequency, types of services used, amounts spent).

These segments feed targeted campaigns delivered via email, SMS, or in-app notifications, offering tailor-made promotions: a tasting menu for a gastronomy enthusiast or a spa package for a guest who visited the spa multiple times during their stay.

Omni-Channel Loyalty and Rewards Programs

POS-CRM integration enables automatic crediting of loyalty points for each transaction. Guests can view their balance in real time, regardless of the outlet used.

Hotels can offer reward tiers that incentivize additional spending: free breakfasts, upgrades, or exclusive services once a spending threshold is reached.

Dashboards and Marketing Management

Consolidated dashboards bring together transactional and relational KPIs: promotion conversion rate, average spend per segment, loyalty program participation rate.

Teams can adjust the product mix, offer calendar, and incentive levels based on real-time indicators, throughout the season or in response to special events.

Marketing management thus becomes agile and grounded in reliable data from the POS, CRM, and PMS, avoiding guesswork and overly optimistic projections. This approach is part of a data-driven initiative.

Turning Hotel POS into a Growth Driver

The enriched and interconnected hotel POS has become the cornerstone of operational, financial, and relational performance for properties. By centralizing check-out, synchronizing in real time with the PMS, adopting cloud and mobile architectures, and leveraging transactional data in the CRM, hoteliers can optimize ancillary revenue, reduce errors, and personalize the guest experience.

Regardless of the size of your property portfolio or the nature of your outlets, our Edana experts will help you design an evolving, secure POS fully integrated into your ecosystem. Let’s discuss your challenges and ambitions to turn your point-of-sale system into a strategic asset.

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PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.

Categories
Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Breaking Through a Growth Plateau: The Winning Strategy of Custom Digital Products

Breaking Through a Growth Plateau: The Winning Strategy of Custom Digital Products

Auteur n°3 – Benjamin

Hitting a growth plateau can occur when traditional levers—whether marketing campaigns, sales prospecting, or cost optimization—no longer deliver significant impact. Companies then face a dilemma: repeat marginal actions or rethink their model to unlock new growth channels.

Custom digital products—industry-specific applications, hybrid platforms, customer portals, or tailored automations—offer a robust path to resolve these situations. By aligning precisely with an organization’s processes and expectations, they generate sustainable value, drive innovation, and restore a clear competitive advantage.

Why Traditional Levers Reach Their Limits

Classic marketing and sales approaches can quickly plateau in mature or highly competitive markets. Internal optimization ends up yielding marginal gains insufficient to reignite significant growth.

Saturated Marketing and Sales Approaches

In many industries, repeating the same advertising campaigns or promotional activities causes wear-out and increased customer acquisition costs. Target audiences become desensitized to the messages, leading to a gradual decline in click-through and conversion rates. Marketing budgets eventually stagnate without providing new growth drivers.

On the sales side, standardized processes are often optimized to the point where each additional improvement demands disproportionate resources or major organizational changes. At this stage, performance stagnates, and pressure on teams intensifies, without any significant net benefit for the company.

Meanwhile, internal cost and process optimization yields one-off gains that are quickly exhausted. Trying to compress margins further without revisiting the overall model can backfire on service quality and staff motivation, thereby weakening medium-term performance.

Example: A Swiss Agricultural Cooperative

A mid-sized Swiss agricultural cooperative was experiencing rising prospecting costs for its export products. After several cycles of Google Ads campaigns and trade shows, the conversion rate plummeted to 1.5% from the initial 4%. This situation demonstrates that even with increasing budgets, classic levers can no longer capture new customers’ attention and end up delivering unsatisfactory returns on investment.

The cooperative realized that simply multiplying marketing actions would not break this plateau. It then decided to invest in a dedicated digital platform, tailored to its industry-specific needs, to offer real-time traceability and boost engagement among professional buyers.

This example highlights how increased tool sophistication does not always reduce acquisition costs and why, at a certain point, creating a differentiating lever is more effective than optimizing generic mechanisms.

Indicators of an Inevitably Approaching Plateau

Several KPIs signal that a company is hitting its growth limits: a stagnant customer churn rate despite promotional offers, a continuous rise in cost per lead, or a drop in average order value despite product range expansion. These symptoms strongly indicate that traditional actions no longer provide leverage.

Furthermore, lengthening development times for new offerings or the saturation of existing distribution channels are other indicators of a strategic bottleneck. They reveal that internal capacity for differentiation is waning without deep innovation.

Recognizing these signals helps avoid getting stuck in costly cycles of inaction or minor tweaks. It marks the tipping point where designing custom digital products becomes necessary to unlock a new development phase.

Custom Digital Products: A New Frontier

Generic solutions often reach their limits in terms of customization and scalability. Custom digital products align with business processes to generate new revenue levers.

Integrated Industry-Specific Applications

An industry-specific application designed for a particular sector or internal process can radically reduce friction between departments and accelerate operational cycles. Unlike an off-the-shelf solution, it is built on the organization’s structure and anticipates future developments.

By automatically synchronizing data from ERP, CRM, and production databases, a custom solution eliminates re-entry and errors while providing tailored dashboards to finely manage business performance. This adaptability translates into productivity gains and a faster time-to-market for new offerings.

The scalability of these custom applications ensures that each new feature can be added without a global overhaul, creating ongoing internal innovation opportunities and a long-term growth driver.

Dedicated Customer Platforms

Offering a customer portal designed exclusively for your market strengthens loyalty and opens up upselling opportunities. Unlike generic portals, it can integrate custom workflows, advanced configuration tools, and recommendation modules tailored to each user’s profile. This approach fits within a hybrid digital experience architecture.

This type of platform can become a genuine engagement channel, evolving based on user feedback and emerging needs. The initial investment pays off quickly through increased transactions, shorter sales cycles, and a notable improvement in customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, access to behavioral data captured in this controlled environment enables the development of value-added services and the exploration of new revenue streams, such as subscriptions or contextual premium services.

Example: A Swiss Financial Services Group

A mid-sized Swiss financial services provider developed an automated advisory platform for its professional clients. The tool, custom-built for its internal scoring and compliance rules, generated 12% additional revenue in seven months while reducing file management costs by 30%.

This project demonstrates how a digital solution aligned with industry specifics can not only optimize existing processes but also open a channel for new offerings, based on a paid à la carte advisory service.

The example underscores that investing in a custom product is quickly offset by creating monetization alternatives and improving operational efficiency.

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Operational Optimization and Cost Reduction Through Automation

Manual, siloed processes lead to high recurring costs. Automating with custom digital tools streamlines operations and frees up resources for innovation.

Automation of Internal Processes

Thoughtful automation of repetitive tasks—billing, inventory management, pricing calculations—frees up teams and ensures increased reliability. Custom-orchestrated workflows can connect multiple applications, as explained in our guide to understanding APIs, their types, and best practices for connecting your systems.

By standardizing and automating these processes, companies reduce processing times and minimize human errors. Cost savings—often ranging from 20% to 40%—stem as much from eliminating redundant tasks as from streamlining information flow.

With custom APIs and open source microservices, it is possible to build a modular, resilient, and scalable system that easily integrates with existing components while offering the flexibility to adjust processes according to strategic needs.

Hybrid and Open Source Integration

Rather than completely replacing existing solutions, a hybrid approach combines proven open source components with from-scratch developments. This approach avoids vendor lock-in, ensures controlled licensing costs, and benefits from regular community updates.

A modular architecture based on microservices allows each critical function to be decoupled and updates to be deployed independently without affecting the entire system. This flexibility is essential for quickly responding to regulatory or business changes.

Using recognized open source technologies—such as Node.js, Laravel, or Spring Boot—provides a robust, well-documented foundation while retaining the freedom to customize each service. It’s a guarantee of longevity and performance for the digital ecosystem.

Example: A Swiss Industrial Company

A multi-site Swiss industrial company automated its order management process by connecting its ERP to a custom-built pricing rules engine. This automation reduced quote processing times by 50% and cut billing errors by 25%.

This case demonstrates the direct impact of a tailored solution: sales teams enjoy a seamless workflow, operations reduce support costs, and customer service maintains an accurate, reliable history. Additionally, freed-up resources make it possible to launch a predictive analytics project to anticipate customer needs.

The example illustrates how targeted automation becomes a productivity driver and frees up budget to finance higher-value innovation.

Customer Experience and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

A differentiated customer experience fosters loyalty and attracts new markets. Custom digital portals and platforms offer unmatched personalization and responsiveness.

Personalized Customer Portals

A custom customer portal delivers a unique journey tailored to each segment’s specific needs. Featuring dynamic dashboards, configuration spaces, and proactive notifications, it creates a genuine digital connection between the company and its users.

By providing direct access to real-time data, customers gain autonomy and responsiveness. This transparency builds trust and encourages adoption of additional services, while generating continuous feedback to enrich the product roadmap.

Features evolve according to usage: new modules, targeted updates, or vertical extensions can be added seamlessly thanks to a modular architecture and agile governance.

Modular Internal SaaS Solutions

Developing internal SaaS solutions tailored to your industry and processes offers the flexibility of a cloud solution while ensuring full control over data and security. Modules can be activated or deactivated as needed, ensuring optimal adaptability.

Unlike packaged solutions, each software component aligns with long-term strategy and integrates with the existing ecosystem through open APIs. This way, the company retains control over its functional and technological evolution.

This modular approach relies on the micro-frontends modular architecture to finely control costs by activating only essential services and avoiding unused licenses, while ensuring a rapid time-to-market for any new feature.

Reignite Growth with Custom Digital Products

Growth plateaus are not an end in themselves but a signal to rethink your growth levers. Custom digital products offer a clear path to create new revenue streams, optimize costs, and elevate customer experience. By combining open source, modular architecture, and a contextual approach, you build a scalable and high-performance ecosystem.

Our experts are ready to support you in defining and implementing digital solutions aligned with your strategic challenges. Together, we will develop a tailored roadmap focused on ROI, scalability, and longevity.

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Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Comparing ERPs: Essential Criteria for Choosing a Sustainable, Flexible, and Interoperable System

Comparing ERPs: Essential Criteria for Choosing a Sustainable, Flexible, and Interoperable System

Auteur n°3 – Benjamin

Choosing a suitable ERP has become a major challenge given today’s diverse range of offerings. Solutions span proprietary all-in-one platforms, open-source stacks, and specialized headless architectures. A poor choice can lead to operational bottlenecks, high maintenance costs, and a lack of flexibility for your future projects.

Beyond functional scope and initial budget, it’s essential to assess the alignment between the tool and your business processes, its ability to grow with your operations, and its integration into your information system. This multidimensional approach ensures a sustainable, flexible, and interoperable ERP foundation perfectly aligned with your strategic objectives.

Genuine Business Alignment

An ERP must precisely address your industry requirements and manage your processes without workarounds. This functional alignment ensures rapid adoption and reduces parallel operations.

Sector Coverage and Functional Depth

Each industry has specific requirements in terms of workflows, regulations, and volumes. A generic ERP may offer many modules, but functional depth remains limited if complex business scenarios aren’t natively supported.

Choosing a specialized solution—or a highly configurable modular suite—enables you to manage critical processes such as lot traceability, production order management, and quality monitoring without resorting to custom developments.

Advanced sector coverage reduces reliance on Excel or external tools, minimizes manual-entry errors, and optimizes data reliability for strategic decision-making.

End-to-End Flow Management

Order, production, shipping, and invoicing flows must move seamlessly within a single system. An ERP that orchestrates these stages without interruptions ensures complete transparency and controlled lead times.

For example, a Swiss industrial component manufacturer implemented an ERP with an integrated production planning module and cut coordination time between workshops and logistics by 30%.

Real-time data synchronization also delivers more accurate reporting, enabling rapid adjustments in response to demand fluctuations or production issues, establishing a data-driven organization.

Reducing Dependence on External Tools

Relying on secondary solutions to fill functional gaps in a standard ERP creates silos and increases IT complexity. Each added tool requires interfaces, import/export flows, and dedicated maintenance procedures.

An ERP that covers your needs prevents license multiplication and the management of parallel processes—both sources of errors and hidden costs. It provides a single source of truth by centralizing financial, logistical, and commercial data.

By internalizing key functions, you shorten report consolidation phases and ensure consistency in your business indicators for steering committees.

Flexibility & Scalability

A modern ERP must grow with your business and adapt to emerging needs. Modular architecture and open APIs are at the heart of this agility.

Modular Architecture

A modular ERP lets you enable features progressively according to your priorities, rather than deploying a full suite at once. This phased approach limits risks and upfront investments.

Each module can be upgraded independently, reducing the scope of global testing and accelerating deployments. When new business processes arise, you simply add or swap a module without disrupting operations.

This segmentation also enhances resilience: during module maintenance, the rest of the system remains operational, ensuring business continuity.

Controlled Customization and API-Based Extensions

Specific requirements don’t disappear with a standard solution. Rather than building rigid overlays, an API-first ERP provides a robust framework for controlled extensions across ERP cloud, AI, and IoT applications.

A mid-sized financial firm developed lightweight connectors to link its ERP to an external transaction-tracking platform. This example shows how an open API can meet a punctual need without compromising the application core’s stability.

These extensions remain documented and testable, simplifying maintenance and ensuring compatibility during system-wide updates.

Strategies to Avoid Vendor Lock-In

Being locked in with a single vendor can incur costly dependencies and stifle innovation. Favoring open-source components or modular cloud solutions reduces this risk. Open-Source ERP vs Proprietary ERP.

Opting for licenses without data-retention clauses or choosing transparent subscription models gives you the freedom to migrate to another provider or an in-house solution if needed.

By combining open components with managed services, you gain the robustness of proven solutions alongside the agility of an evolution-friendly architecture without excessive commercial constraints.

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Integration into Your Information System

Interoperability with your existing applications is crucial for a long-term ERP. Seamless integration reduces friction and project costs.

Interoperability with CRM and Business Tools

Your CRM, e-commerce platforms, and MES systems must exchange data bidirectionally with the ERP. APIs and data buses ensure continuous synchronization of customer, product, and inventory information.

Implementing webhooks or lightweight middleware propagates key actions—such as creating an order or updating payment status—in real time.

For instance, an e-commerce site cut stock update delays by 40% by automating data flows through an integration bus.

Cloud, Hybrid, and On-Premises Compatibility

Your ERP deployment must align with your hosting strategy. A native cloud model provides elasticity, while on-premises hosting may address regulatory or latency constraints.

A hybrid model combines both approaches, hosting critical modules locally and delegating the rest to a public or private cloud. This flexibility optimizes cost, performance, and compliance.

Containers and orchestrators like Kubernetes facilitate this division, ensuring greater portability and resilience of your infrastructure.

Orchestration and Microservices

A microservices architecture decouples key ERP functions into independent services, each evolving at its own pace with autonomous deployment cycles.

Using an orchestrator automatically manages scalability and fault tolerance without a full system reboot.

Vendor and Integrator Quality

The choice of vendor and its partner ecosystem is as decisive as the solution itself. Their expertise shapes your project’s operational success and security.

Methodology and Support

An agile methodology, based on short iterations and user feedback, ensures a progressive rollout and continuous validation of functional deliverables.

Support should include clear SLAs, multichannel assistance, and response times aligned with your business priorities and geographic location.

An integrator experienced in hybrid environments and open source streamlines steering, testing, and user adoption phases.

Product Roadmap and Security

The vendor’s roadmap should be transparent, with published milestones and planned releases that incorporate technological and regulatory changes.

Security must be a core pillar, featuring regular audits, rapid vulnerability fixes, and proactive update management.

This discipline ensures ERP longevity and minimizes the risks of non-compliance or critical incidents.

Growth Support

The vendor and its integrator must support volume increases, new site openings, or subsidiary additions. Their ability to scale the architecture and adjust licensing is crucial.

A local partner ecosystem guarantees quick response times and a nuanced understanding of Swiss and European regulatory constraints.

This proximity allows you to anticipate capacity increases and adjust project governance according to your strategic roadmap.

An ERP Foundation to Drive Your Transformation

Comparing ERPs goes beyond modules or license costs. It must include genuine business alignment, architectural agility, system integration, and partner quality. These four dimensions form the foundation of a system capable of sustaining your growth, supporting new services, and preventing technical or commercial blockages.

For a Swiss SME or intermediate-sized enterprise, the challenge is to select an ERP that delivers ROI, agility, and longevity while minimizing dependencies. Our experts guide you through this critical choice—from the initial audit to implementation—to build a contextualized, high-performance digital ecosystem.

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Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Modern HRIS: How HR Digitalization Frees Up Time and Boosts Performance

Modern HRIS: How HR Digitalization Frees Up Time and Boosts Performance

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In a context where HR departments must navigate complex Swiss regulations, increased competition for talent, and post-COVID hybrid work models, the modern HRIS emerges as a key lever to refocus teams on people. By replacing tedious administrative tasks with automated processes, it ensures more reliable data while reducing workload.

Swiss SMEs and mid-market companies can thus deploy an integrated HR ecosystem covering payroll, leave management, recruitment, and skills management, freeing up valuable time. The challenge is to choose a flexible, interoperable, and customizable solution in line with Swiss Old-Age and Survivors’ Insurance (AHV), Occupational Pension Plan (BVG), or Swissdec standards, while benefiting from tailored strategic support.

Automation of Repetitive HR Tasks

By automating payroll, Swissdec declarations, and absence tracking, an integrated HRIS eliminates time-consuming manual tasks. Intelligent workflows ensure smooth approvals and speed up internal processes, providing HR teams with significant time savings.

Payroll Automation and Swissdec Declarations

Automatic payslip processing drastically reduces the risk of errors in salary calculation, social contributions, and withholding taxes. A Swissdec-compliant HRIS generates the mandatory files, submits them directly to the authorities, and tracks transmission statuses.

This automation frees HR from managing multiple declaration formats and ensures full traceability of operations. When regulations change, the system integrates new standards without manual intervention.

Absence Management and Expense Reports

Digitizing absence and leave tracking enables employees to submit requests through a self-service portal. Managers receive instant notifications to approve or reject, with a complete history available at any time.

For expense reports, mobile capture of receipts and OCR scanning integration streamline data entry. Expenses are automatically categorized and fed directly into the finance system.

This reduces back-and-forth emails and tedious follow-ups while providing a consolidated view of labor and non-labor costs. HR teams can focus on data analysis rather than manual document collection.

Approval Workflows and Legal Compliance

Configurable workflows orchestrate each step: submission, hierarchical approval, payroll validation, and archiving. Every action is timestamped and logged in the HRIS, ensuring transparency and decision traceability.

By integrating customized business rules, the solution adapts to each organization’s specifics: approval thresholds, automatic delegations during absences, or end-of-month escalation for validation.

This level of configuration enhances process control and reduces the risk of non-compliance with legal deadlines, such as occupational pension declarations or AHV certificates. Internal and external audits are simplified with real-time, detailed reports.

Centralized Data for Strategic Management

Consolidating HR information—skills, training, job history, and compensation—provides a 360° view of employees. It facilitates workforce planning and salary budget forecasting.

Skills and Training Inventory

A modern HRIS centralizes acquired skills, certifications, and training records. Each employee has a continually updated profile accessible to HR and department heads.

By cross-referencing this data, training managers can anticipate needs and propose tailored programs. Predictive analytics identify skill gaps and guide educational investments.

For example, a Swiss industrial SME used its HR repository to detect a lack of qualifications in an automated production line. It then launched an internal training program, reducing external recruitment by 30%. This case demonstrates the impact of a centralized view on skill development.

Salary Budget Forecasting

The budget forecasting is based on real-time data: headcount changes, bonuses, scheduled increases, and seasonal fluctuations. The HRIS generates financial simulations and automatically includes the planned social contributions and charges.

Finance and HR teams can collaborate on a common model, aligning operational needs with budgetary constraints. Variances are quickly identified and explained.

This precise salary budget management allows cost control and optimized trade-offs during economic pressure or transformation projects.

Internal Mobility and Career Path Management

With a comprehensive repository of employee skills and aspirations, HR can more effectively promote internal mobility. Open positions are matched with the most suitable profiles, speeding up internal recruitment.

Career paths become transparent: each employee sees the skills needed for the next level and can plan their development with their manager.

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Employee Self-Service and Custom Integrations

The self-service portal empowers employees, reduces HR inquiries, and improves the user experience. It delivers intuitive workflows for every request.

Employee Portal and Automated Workflows

Thanks to self-service, everyone can access personal information (payslips, leave balances, training history) and initiate standard processes (transfers, training, reimbursements). Requests are automatically routed to the right approvers.

Dynamic forms adapt fields to request types, reducing errors and clarifying data collection. HR teams save valuable time on administrative tasks.

A Swiss financial-sector SME implemented a customized HR portal. Leave request emails dropped by 60%, and employee satisfaction rose by 25%. This example shows how a well-designed portal transforms the internal experience and frees up time for high-value tasks.

API Integration with ERP and ATS

Standard or custom APIs connect the HRIS with the accounting ERP, payroll system, or recruitment platform. Employee records, open positions, and contracts stay continuously synchronized, ensuring data consistency.

User Adoption and Training

The success of an HRIS project relies on team support and targeted training. Integrated e-learning modules and in-app interactive guides facilitate skill development from day one.

Hands-on workshops, involving IT, HR, and business users, enable co-creation of configurations and validation of real use cases. This approach fosters ownership and minimizes resistance to change.

A cantonal organization ran small-group training sessions to roll out its new HRIS. User adoption exceeded 90% in the first quarter, highlighting the importance of a collaborative, phased approach.

Flexibility, Interoperability, and Personalized Support

A modern HRIS must accommodate Swiss-specific rules—AHV, BVG, withholding tax—without rigidity. Customization ensures perfect alignment with business processes.

Compliance with Swiss Rules

The specifics of the pension system (BVG), disability insurance (DI), or withholding tax declarations require precise calculations and formats. A flexible rules engine allows adding or modifying parameters without new development.

Legal updates are quickly deployed, ensuring compliance in an evolving regulatory environment. Standard and custom reports cover all official obligations.

This agility eliminates heavy development for each regulatory change and minimizes maintenance costs related to legal adaptations.

Modular Architecture and Open Source

By leveraging proven open source components, the HRIS remains scalable and transparent. Modules can be activated or deactivated as needed without impacting the entire solution.

Digital Transformation Support

A process audit identifies automation levers and bottlenecks. The contextual approach enables a tailored action plan combining quick wins and strategic evolutions.

Co-creating intelligent HR workflows ensures natural adoption by business units. Specific developments are scoped to leverage existing assets and avoid overdevelopment.

Post-deployment follow-up with performance indicators and regular reviews ensures the HRIS’s sustainability and continuous evolution, aligned with business and operational objectives.

Accelerate Your HR Performance with a Modern HRIS

An integrated, automated HRIS transforms administrative tasks into seamless processes, centralizes data for informed decision-making, and offers an intuitive self-service experience. Modularity, open source, and APIs ensure a flexible solution, compliant with Swiss rules and scalable with your business demands.

Whether you aim to optimize payroll, manage salary budgets, or enhance the employee experience, personalized support will drive your project’s success. Our digital transformation experts are ready to audit your processes, deploy intelligent workflows, and integrate your existing HR tools.

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PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.

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Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Location-Based Application Development: How to Make It a Business Driver Rather Than Just a Gadget

Location-Based Application Development: How to Make It a Business Driver Rather Than Just a Gadget

Auteur n°3 – Benjamin

Geolocated applications no longer limit themselves to displaying a map or sending “near me” notifications. They play a strategic role by connecting users’ needs in real time with the services, products, and interactions around them. This contextualized access enriches the customer experience, streamlines purchase journeys, and optimizes business operations.

Provided you master confidentiality, performance, and technical integration constraints, a location-based app becomes a true growth driver. This article explores how to leverage geolocation to personalize engagement, rationalize logistics, strengthen loyalty, and monetize intelligently, while avoiding common pitfalls such as battery drain, intrusive push notifications, or regulatory non-compliance.

Leveraging Geolocation to Personalize the User Experience

Geolocation enables the delivery of content and offers tailored to the user’s immediate context. It facilitates acquisition by creating relevant interactions at the right time and place.

Real-Time Personalization

By leveraging an authorized user’s location, the door opens to hyper-personalized recommendations. By analyzing their movements and interests, an app can suggest a store to visit or a service suited to their habits. This contextualization boosts engagement by avoiding generic prompts that risk being ignored.

For example, a large retail chain implemented a system of dynamic promotions displayed when a prospect approaches one of its outlets. This increased foot traffic by 18% during off-peak hours, demonstrating that contextualized communication captures attention and drives action.

To succeed, it is essential to use open-source geodata processing modules and adopt a modular architecture. The hybrid approach combines a cloud layer for mass analysis with local microservices to reduce latency and data consumption.

Acquiring New Customers

“Near me” features encourage users to discover an offer at the moment they are most likely to act. A potential customer spotting a repair service or nearby shop is more inclined to click and convert. The app thus becomes a passive prospecting tool, offering qualified contact opportunities.

Implementation, however, requires a privacy-respecting permissions strategy. It is recommended to request location access in context and provide a clear added value to achieve a high opt-in rate. The more immediate benefit the user perceives, the more willing they are to share their data temporarily or continuously.

Technical integration often relies on the Google Maps API or open-source solutions such as Leaflet coupled with a Node.js backend. This combination ensures smooth rendering and efficient handling of geospatial queries without imposing vendor lock-in.

Local Discovery and Socialization

Beyond promotions, geolocation fosters social interactions around a place or event. Push notifications, geofencing, and geotriggering animate a local community by inviting meetups or alerting on networking opportunities. These mechanisms strengthen the bond between users and the brand’s ecosystem.

On the technical side, using JSON Web Tokens to manage sessions and geolocation ensures secure data exchange while limiting battery impact through intelligent periodic tracking.

Enhancing Logistical and Operational Efficiency through Location

Geolocation optimizes delivery flows, reduces operational costs, and improves punctuality. It provides real-time visibility into resources and boosts field teams’ responsiveness.

Delivery Route Optimization

Analyzing real-time GPS positions and integrating routing algorithms allows for dynamic route recalculation. This reduces miles traveled, fuel consumption, and CO₂ emissions. Delivery times are thus shorter, and operational costs decrease.

For example, a logistics provider integrated geofencing to automatically redirect its vehicles to the nearest depot in case of heavy traffic on a route. This reduced the average distance per delivery by 12% and demonstrated the value of responsive routing.

Technically, integrating open-source route optimization APIs within a modular Python backend ensures an evolutive architecture free from lock-in. This choice aligns with a ROI-driven, secure, and sustainable approach.

Real-Time Fleet Tracking

Continuous tracking of vehicles or equipment allows anticipating delays and triggering preventive actions. Managers can instantly detect route anomalies, send real-time instructions, and ensure better asset utilization.

Technically, it is advisable to adjust the frequency of geolocation readings based on the vehicle’s status (stationary, moving) and to compress data before transmission. These optimizations extend mobile devices’ battery life.

Synchronizing GPS positions on an internal dashboard can trigger alerts for deviations exceeding 200 m outside a defined zone, reducing incidents and boosting customer confidence.

Dynamic Resource Management

Public or industrial services can allocate resources (vehicles, machines, operators) based on their location and availability. This flexibility improves asset utilization rates and raises productivity.

Architecturally, a microservices approach combined with a spatial database (PostGIS) offers a scalable solution capable of handling increasing volumes of geolocation events while ensuring secure exchanges.

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Creating New Revenue Streams and Strengthening Loyalty

Geolocation offers monetization opportunities through targeted advertising and contextual loyalty programs. It enhances customer engagement by emphasizing proximity and offer relevance.

Monetization through Geotargeted Advertising

Ad placements within an app can be sold to local partners, with precise targeting based on location and movement habits. This generates a new revenue stream while ensuring a relevant user experience.

The technical aspects rely on a campaign management module capable of geocoding target areas and orchestrating pushes via an open-source mobile notification service, guaranteeing neutrality and no vendor lock-in.

Location-Based Loyalty Programs

Linking physical visits to a geo-tagged points program encourages repeat business. Each store visit or partner site check-in can trigger points or badge awards, strengthening brand loyalty.

A fitness chain demonstrated that a geolocated check-in system rewarding consistency led to a 22% increase in membership renewals.

To ensure reliability, indoor geolocation can be combined with Wi-Fi network detection and the use of BLE beacons. Integration is carried out via modular SDKs without lock-in, aligned with an open-source and fair vision.

Local Partnerships and Ecosystems

Apps can create synergies among various local stakeholders: retailers, mobility services, cultural events. By pooling location data, each partner enriches the overall offering and shares value creation.

Technically, the architecture relies on REST APIs combining security and openness, paired with webhooks to enrich the ecosystem in real time. This modularity facilitates adding new partners without major reconfiguration.

Managing Technical and Regulatory Challenges of Geolocation

Respecting confidentiality and legislation is crucial to build trust and limit legal risks. Fine-tuned energy consumption optimization and robust technical integration ensure app performance and longevity.

Preserving Confidentiality and Ensuring Privacy Compliance

Collecting and processing location data must comply with the GDPR and the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FADP) guidelines. It is essential to define the purpose clearly, provide an explicit opt-in, and document storage duration.

Technically, it is recommended to use open-source encryption libraries to store trip histories and segment access via strong authentication. This modular approach remains independent of cloud providers.

Optimizing Performance and Energy Consumption

Continuous GPS use is energy-intensive. It is best to adapt the geolocation frequency based on context: active mode, idle, proximity to a geofence. These adjustments extend device battery life without compromising service quality.

Integrating inertial sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) allows inferring vehicle stops and temporarily suspending tracking. The solution relies on a lightweight edge service deployable on mobile devices and orchestrated by a scalable backend.

Selecting and Integrating the Right Technologies

The core of a location-based app relies on mapping modules, routing services, and spatial processing middleware. It is advisable to prioritize open-source components like OpenStreetMap, OSRM for routing, or GeoTools for backend processing.

Integration via RESTful APIs and Docker containers promotes portability and scalability. Updates are automated through CI/CD pipelines, ensuring consistency and robustness throughout the app lifecycle.

Turn Your Location-Based App into a Business Driver

Location-based applications go far beyond a simple map or “near me” notifications. They become powerful tools for personalizing experience, optimizing operations, generating revenue, and fostering loyalty. By adopting a modular, secure, and privacy-respecting approach, any organization can create real-time value.

Our open-source expertise, scalable architectures, and deep understanding of performance and compliance challenges are at your service to transform your geolocated project into a true competitive advantage. Our teams are ready to support you from strategy to execution, ensuring a reliable, scalable, and lasting deployment.

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Employee Digital Experience: The New Silent Engine of Performance

Employee Digital Experience: The New Silent Engine of Performance

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In an environment where every interaction now takes place behind a screen, the digital workspace of employees is no longer optional: it is central. The Digital Workplace Experience (DWE) defines the quality of this invisible space, where CRM, ERP, messaging and automation merge to become the daily “office.” When seamless, the DWE drives productivity, engagement and innovation capacity.

Conversely, a fragmented, sluggish system hinders every action, directly impacting overall performance. More than just an IT endeavor, the quality of the employee digital experience has become a strategic lever, a maturity marker and an HR concern. This article explores how the DWE has emerged as the new silent engine of your competitiveness.

The Digital Workplace Experience: the Invisible Infrastructure of Performance

The DWE is the modern equivalent of office space and corporate culture. It shapes every interaction, from handling an IT ticket to project collaboration. As an invisible infrastructure, it determines execution speed and employees’ digital well-being.

The Rise of a Fully Digital Environment

Today, employees access their tasks through a suite of interconnected tools. They no longer occupy a single physical building but navigate between CRM, HRIS, knowledge bases and communication platforms. Each application must be integrated seamlessly to ensure a coherent user journey.

The proliferation of these services creates an ecosystem where every second counts. A delayed load time or a blocked authentication triggers a series of micro-interruptions. Across an organization, these small disruptions accumulate and weigh heavily on productivity.

That is why governance of this digital environment requires a holistic vision. The goal is no longer to deploy yet another application but to ensure that every component interacting with the platform contributes to a unified, high-performing experience.

Seamlessness as a Catalyst for Agility

When an employee digital environment is redesigned for fluidity, teams become more responsive. Processing times shrink, from support requests to business decision-making. Each of these improvements reinforces operational agility.

A coherent platform also encourages rapid adoption of new features. Employees do not hesitate to try additional tools or modules when they integrate naturally into their workflow. This accelerates the implementation of innovative processes.

Finally, a well-designed DWE reduces friction between cross-functional services. IT, HR and business units work on the same toolset, simplifying collaboration and the rapid resolution of issues.

Use Case in the Financial Sector

A financial organization experienced a slowdown in its credit approval processes. After an audit, it became clear that five separate applications were required for each file, with individual access times of several minutes.

By consolidating these functions into a unified platform, the organization cut average processing time by 35%. This case demonstrates that streamlining the DWE means automating the assembly of tools rather than adding new ones.

This result highlights the direct impact of a seamless platform: faster operations, teams freed from repetitive tasks and improved service quality for end customers.

The Symptoms of a Poor Digital Experience Reveal Your Weaknesses

Issues detected in the DWE often point to deep organizational gaps. Behind every technological symptom lies a deficit in governance, architecture or processes. Recognizing these signals enables you to target the most strategic transformation levers.

Paralyzing Information Silos

When a document repository is scattered across multiple solutions, finding relevant information becomes an obstacle course. Business units waste precious time searching for data or procedures, slowing production and generating frustration.

The absence of structured document governance exacerbates this phenomenon; without clear rules for storage and indexing, each department creates its own repository, locking information into silos and underscoring the need to connect silos.

This lack of cross-organizational visibility undermines decision-making and hinders responsiveness to unforeseen events. A company capable of sharing critical data instantly holds a decisive advantage in execution speed.

Poorly Designed and Fragmented Interfaces

A poorly designed tool accumulates technical debt upon launch. Complex interfaces, confusing menus, lack of personalization: every friction point degrades the internal user experience.

These irritants encourage workarounds, such as using Excel spreadsheets or unapproved external tools. To enhance ergonomics, it is advisable to follow UX best practices.

In the end, employees spend more time mitigating technical limitations than focusing on high-value tasks, leading to gradual disengagement.

Example of a Manufacturing Group Facing Silos

In a manufacturing company, each department managed its own document repositories. Transmission times between services sometimes reached several days, especially for budget approvals.

The absence of structured document governance exacerbated this issue; without clear storage and indexing rules, each department created its own repository, locking information into silos and emphasizing the need to connect silos.

The centralization project reduced these delays by 60%, while establishing a unified document governance model. This initiative demonstrates that solving silo issues is not just a technical task but an operational model change.

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The Cost of a Degraded DWE and Its Impacts

The cost of a poor employee digital experience doesn’t appear on the IT bill but weighs heavily on operational performance. Productivity, turnover and service quality all suffer simultaneously. Understanding these hidden costs helps justify strategic investments in the DWE.

Wasted Time and Reduced Productivity

According to several surveys, nearly half of employees lose time searching for information or uploading documents to various tools. These moments can amount to several weeks of work per person each year.

Added to this are slowdowns caused by unoptimized applications: more than half of users report being hindered by long load times or frequent outages. An appropriate software testing strategy can prevent these incidents.

The verdict is clear: operational performance plummets when the DWE becomes an obstacle rather than a catalyst.

Turnover and Employer Attractiveness at Stake

Today’s employees measure the quality of their work environment by their digital experience. Obsolete or poorly integrated tools contribute to frustration and disengagement.

Increased turnover raises HR costs: recruitment, training and knowledge loss. Companies offering a modern internal digital experience attract more talent and retain teams more effectively.

In a context of IT and digital skill shortages, the DWE becomes a major HR argument to keep key competencies and limit knowledge gaps.

Hidden Costs and Operational Friction

Poorly designed digital processes generate redundant steps and bloated workflows. Each delay triggers a domino effect in production and decision chains.

Data entry errors and inconsistencies between tools multiply manual rework and corrective actions, raising costs and the risk of customer incidents. Service quality suffers directly.

Ultimately, these multiple friction points slow growth and delay strategic project implementation, reducing a company’s capacity to innovate.

Building a Digital Workplace That Creates Value

Designing a high-performing DWE requires a structured approach: feedback, rationalization, UX design and collaborative governance. This is not an IT project but a holistic transformation. Alignment between IT, HR and business units ensures a coherent and sustainable digital experience.

Mapping and Optimizing the Actual Experience

The first step is gathering direct user feedback through surveys, interviews and analytics. These insights reveal the priority friction points to address.

With analytical dashboards, you can visualize the most impacted journeys and measure incident frequency or downtime. This mapping guides prioritization choices and aligns with a discovery phase.

Field observation, complemented by user testing, uncovers hidden needs and builds tailored solutions rather than imposing purely technological changes.

Treating the DWE as an Internal Product

Approaching the Digital Workplace as a product means defining a clear vision, satisfaction metrics and a continuous improvement process. Each feature is designed with use and ergonomics in mind.

Deployment is supported by structured onboarding, micro-learning and integrated educational resources. Employees are trained precisely on their needs, reducing adoption time.

This product-oriented approach also involves rapid iterations to adjust interfaces, fix bugs and refine workflows, ensuring the DWE remains aligned with business realities.

Aligning IT, HR and Business Units: Example of an E-commerce SME

An e-commerce SME initiated a Digital Workplace overhaul by involving IT, HR and operations leaders from the planning phase. Each stakeholder contributed to governance and KPI definition.

Thanks to this collaboration, the platform integrated order management workflows, performance indicators and a continuous feedback module. Users validated each pilot release before full-scale rollout.

This collaborative governance model aligned strategic priorities, accelerated delivery and achieved a 92% adoption rate in the first quarter.

Turning the Employee Digital Experience into a Competitive Advantage

The quality of the Digital Workplace Experience directly impacts productivity, engagement and innovation capacity. By treating the DWE as a transformation initiative rather than a mere IT project, you build an invisible yet decisive foundation for your competitiveness.

Our experts can guide you in mapping your actual experience, rationalizing your tools and establishing cross-functional IT–HR–business governance. Together, we will design an evolving, secure and user-centered DWE.

Discuss your challenges with an Edana expert

PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.

Categories
Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

Service client 2030 : vers un modèle hybride, automatisé et centré sur la transparence

Service client 2030 : vers un modèle hybride, automatisé et centré sur la transparence

Auteur n°3 – Benjamin

The challenges of customer service are evolving rapidly under the influence of increasingly demanding customers, a proliferation of digital channels, and the rise of artificial intelligence. Insurers—long held back by cumbersome processes, IT silos, and a back-office–centric culture—must now deliver immediate, consistent, and personalized interactions 24/7.

In this landscape, transparency and responsiveness are no longer mere advantages: they form the very foundation of customer loyalty and competitive differentiation. This article provides an overview of the levers to pull in order to build, by 2030, a hybrid, automated, and trust-focused customer service model.

Total Availability and Omnichannel

Customer service must be reachable at any time through every channel, while preserving the context of each conversation.

This continuity boosts satisfaction and reduces friction during interactions.

Channel Unification

In a world where policyholders expect to switch channels seamlessly, unifying interfaces is paramount. Conversations started on a website must be able to continue in a mobile app, a chatbot, or over the phone without re-explaining the context. To achieve this, insurers rely on open-source Customer Data Platforms capable of aggregating, in real time, data from CRM systems, live-chat tools, and call centers. Customer Data Platforms

This approach guarantees a 360° view of the customer at every touchpoint. Advisors—whether human or virtual—access request history, preferences, and satisfaction indicators such as Net Promoter Score (NPS). They can then deliver a fast, relevant response, eliminating frustration caused by repetitive inquiries. request history

The technical challenge is to shift from a monolithic architecture to a modular, micro-services-based structure. By adopting scalable frameworks and standard APIs, the infrastructure scales without bottlenecks, allowing each channel to evolve independently according to business needs.

Preserving Customer Context

Beyond mere channel synchronization, it’s essential to preserve the emotional and transactional context of interactions. Each touchpoint is tagged with metadata: reason for contact, request status, mood detected by sentiment analysis. This granularity is enabled by open-source AI solutions integrated without vendor lock-in. sentiment analysis

When a policyholder contacts support, the advisor—virtual or human—immediately knows if a claim is being processed, whether a document has been submitted, or if a prior question is pending. This contextual knowledge not only shortens response times but also reduces errors and unnecessary follow-ups, smoothing the customer journey.

Furthermore, traceability of all interactions—via centralized logs and automated reporting—enables precise measurement of each channel’s and each assistant’s performance. Satisfaction-oriented KPIs continuously inform on first-contact resolution rate, average response time, and customer engagement level.

E-Commerce Retailer Example

An online retailer facing a growing volume of multichannel requests implemented a unified platform based on micro-services and a Customer Data Platform. The goal was to aggregate data streams from the website, mobile app, and customer support into a single repository.

This solution increased online conversion by 30% and reduced context-switch tickets by 50%.

This example shows that a modular, open-source architecture deployed in a hybrid ecosystem delivers true experience continuity, generating a competitive edge.

Automation and Generative AI

Smart automation handles simple requests without human intervention, accelerating response times and reducing errors.

Generative AI–powered assistants amplify this capability by delivering contextual, accurate answers.

Workflow Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) combined with micro-services handles routine tasks—address updates, claim tracking, or document re-sending—without manual involvement. RPA

This delegation frees advisors to focus on complex or high-value cases. It also enhances answer reliability and consistency by eliminating input errors and omissions. Automated processes are versioned and continuously tested through CI/CD pipelines, ensuring orchestration chain robustness. CI/CD pipelines

On the technical side, the approach favors open-source solutions and stateless APIs, facilitating scaling and monitoring.

Integrating Generative AI for a Dynamic FAQ

Beyond predefined scripts, language generation models handle questions posed in natural language. Integrated in chatbots or voice assistants, they draw on the FAQ repository and internal data to deliver coherent, up-to-date answers.

This dynamic FAQ learns from new inquiries and advisor corrections. Fine-tuning algorithms even use NPS feedback to refine answer relevance and prioritize topics for enrichment.

Generative AI integration doesn’t exclude strict business rules: every proposed response is vetted by a trust framework, and ambiguous cases are automatically routed to a human advisor, ensuring security and compliance.

Automation Project Example

An insurance company facing a massive influx of claims requests deployed a conversational assistant using an open-source Generative AI library. The bot handled 60% of inquiries, from file opening to sending initial claim documents.

Coordination with the claims management system was managed by a micro-services orchestration layer, enabling real-time customer data extraction and updates. This automation cut standard request processing times by 70%.

This example demonstrates that a well-managed Generative AI integration, combined with an elastic architecture, can turn a workload spike into an opportunity for customer satisfaction and operational performance.

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Proactive Personalization

Personalization relies on data usage to anticipate policyholders’ needs before they even ask.

Next-best-action becomes active coaching throughout the customer lifecycle.

Data Analytics and Segmentation

In-depth analysis of transactional, demographic, and behavioral data segments policyholders by risk profile, contact preferences, and life events. Customer Data Platforms centralize this information for marketing automation tools or recommendation engines. Customer Data Platforms

This dynamic segmentation evolves with events: address change, claim submission, policy renewal. At each change, a scoring module reassesses the profile and suggests an appropriate action—payment reminder, complementary offer, or preventative advice.

Data is processed within a secure, GDPR-compliant framework, leveraging access governance and encryption mechanisms. GDPR

Next-Best-Action and Life Events

The next-best-action concept delivers the most relevant information or service at the right moment. For example, before summer holidays, home insurance can suggest coverage extensions for valuables left abroad.

Insurers use predictive models that cross external data (weather, regional claims) with internal history (previous claims). AI detects weak signals and automatically triggers a multichannel campaign via email, SMS, or push notifications. multichannel campaign

This proactive approach shifts insurance from a purely reactive role to that of advisor or life coach. Policyholders perceive the brand as a trusted partner, anticipating their needs and mitigating risks before they become claims.

Enhanced Self-Service and Complete Transparency

Modular self-service portals and apps provide full autonomy, reducing touchpoints and advisor workload.

Transparency on request status builds trust and prevents unnecessary follow-ups.

Modular Self-Service Portals

Self-service portals rely on open-source building blocks and modular components, enabling customization for business needs. Policyholders can view policies, download certificates, and submit documents without intermediaries.

Each module (claims management, payment tracking, coverage modifications) can be deployed independently, ensuring rapid updates without affecting the entire platform. UX-driven interfaces guide users and minimize errors.

The back end is orchestrated by secure RESTful APIs, ensuring smooth communication with core systems. Workflows are tracked to automate follow-ups for missing documents and to pinpoint friction points in the journey.

Real-Time Tracking with Feedback Loops

Transparency extends beyond document access to precise tracking of request progress. Every step (receipt, validation, payment, closure) is timestamped and visible in the customer portal.

Integrated feedback loops—via NPS or short satisfaction surveys—enable continuous process adjustment. Dissatisfaction triggers automated alerts to relevant teams, which can implement rapid corrective measures.

Consolidated IT dashboards provide an aggregated view of average processing times, abandonment rates, and bottlenecks, facilitating decision-making and prioritization of optimization efforts.

Security and GDPR Compliance

In a self-service model, personal data security is imperative. Platforms use end-to-end encryption, TLS certificates, and fine-grained role-based access control. Any sensitive action triggers strong authentication, ensuring compliance.

Consent is managed transparently via preference-management modules that document each processing authorization. Policyholders can view and modify their consent at any time.

This technical and regulatory transparency, combined with seamless processes, reassures customers, limits non-compliance risks, and simplifies internal administration.

Toward a Hybrid, Transparent Customer Service by 2030

The convergence of mastered omnichannel, intelligent automation, proactive personalization, and transparent self-service defines the customer service of 2030. Modular, open-source architectures powered by AI will deliver both agility and reliability.

To succeed in this transformation, insurers must adopt a customer-centric mindset, streamline processes, and integrate satisfaction KPIs. Despite growing automation, human expertise remains essential for handling complex and sensitive cases.

Our Edana experts support IT and business leaders in building this hybrid model, aligning digital strategy, emerging technologies, and long-term ROI. We’ll guide you in making transparency and responsiveness the cornerstones of your competitive advantage.

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8 Digital Levers to Master Your Supply Chain in an Unstable Environment

8 Digital Levers to Master Your Supply Chain in an Unstable Environment

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In an environment marked by frequent logistical disruptions, port delays, and price volatility, industrial companies can no longer rely on manual processes or static forecasts. Digital systems have become essential to anticipate demand, model scenarios, and ensure real-time visibility across all flows.

Whether it’s a modern ERP or a custom platform, these solutions form the central nervous system of a resilient supply chain, capable of instantly adapting to disruptions. This article details eight essential digital levers to master your supply chain and strengthen operational continuity in an unstable environment.

Agile Forecasting and Demand Modeling

Forecasts must shift from a static model to adaptive real-time management. Scenario modeling enables simulation of demand fluctuations and rapid adjustment of procurement plans.

Predictive Trend Analysis

To address market volatility, companies rely on machine learning algorithms, as detailed in the article on artificial intelligence in the manufacturing industry, capable of detecting weak signals. These models ingest diverse data—from sales history to macroeconomic indicators—to produce multi-horizon forecasts. The ability to continuously recalibrate projections based on the latest information helps reduce forecast error and anticipate demand variations.

Predictive systems use time-series techniques and correlation analysis to isolate seasonal and cyclical effects. By integrating external data such as price fluctuations or coordination constraints at suppliers, forecast accuracy improves significantly. Procurement and planning teams can thus anticipate pressure points and trigger action plans before disruptions occur.

The modularity of predictive solutions is crucial to adapt to the specific needs of each industrial sector. A precision parts manufacturer can tailor its model to account for short cycles and large volume variations. Using open-source components with open APIs ensures seamless integration into the existing ERP and avoids reliance on a single vendor.

Supply Scenario Simulation

Simulating the impact of delays, disruptions, or price changes allows testing multiple procurement strategies in advance. These scenarios use correlation matrices between suppliers, transport capacities, and storage constraints to evaluate risks. To gain a deeper understanding of the ecosystem approach, see the article why supply chains need an ecosystem approach to stay resilient. The results provide clear recommendations for prioritizing logistics routes or activating alternative suppliers.

The digital twin of the supply chain provides an accurate representation of flows, inventory, and operational constraints. It integrates real-time data from IoT sensors, port updates, and order statuses. Decision-makers thus have a dashboard where each scenario displays its financial and operational impact in just a few clicks.

Modern platforms often offer visual scenario-building studios that simplify variable configuration and result interpretation. These modules can be custom-developed and connected to the ERP via APIs, ensuring data traceability and secure exchanges. Their adoption enhances responsiveness and reduces decisions based on unquantified intuition.

Case Study: An Electronics Company

A Swiss SME specializing in electronic component manufacturing integrated a real-time forecasting engine with its ERP. The solution modeled multiple material shortage scenarios and automatically recalculated orders with alternative suppliers. Over six months, stockouts decreased by 18%, demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrated modeling.

When strikes at a European port threatened delivery schedules, the company was able to immediately reroute its supplies via an alternative road transit, maintaining 95% of the planned production volume. This example highlights the need for a scalable architecture and continuous integration of external data.

The implementation of this simulation module was facilitated by using open-source components and open APIs, ensuring smooth data exchange between the predictive engine, the ERP, and the logistics tracking platform.

End-to-End Visibility and Transparency

Continuous access to real logistics data is essential for adjusting operations in real time. Transparency with partners strengthens collaboration and mutual trust.

Interactive Dashboards

Unified dashboards aggregate key information from the ERP, transportation management systems, and warehouses. They provide a consolidated view of inventory levels, scheduled delivery dates, and ongoing incidents. These indicators are refreshed automatically, allowing teams to focus their efforts on corrective actions rather than manual data gathering. Discover our guide on the right KPIs to manage your information system in real time.

Modern interfaces offer dynamic filters and configurable alerts to flag critical variances. For example, a breakdown by site or product family immediately informs managers of inventory level deviations compared to actual consumption. This granularity facilitates management and rapid decision-making.

By adopting a modular approach, it is possible to integrate these dashboards into a secure client portal, giving suppliers and partners restricted access to the KPIs that concern them. This controlled openness improves coordination and reduces information delays.

Real-Time Tracking and Alerting

Integrating IoT sensors and geofencing into transportation enables tracking each pallet or container throughout its journey. To learn more about IoT applications, see how insurers are reinventing themselves with IoT applications. Position, temperature, and humidity data are automatically fed into the system, providing instant visibility into shipment status. Logistics managers can thus anticipate incidents and trigger contingency procedures.

Alerts are based on predefined thresholds, whether a late arrival beyond a time window or a temperature outside the tolerated range. These automated notifications are sent via email or through integrated messaging, ensuring team responsiveness. Each event’s traceability is maintained to facilitate post-mortem analyses.

A consolidated archiving core stores the history of incidents and trajectories. Post-delivery quantitative data analyses identify segments where delays are recurrent, paving the way for targeted route or transport mode optimizations.

Enhanced Collaboration with Partners

Implementing a dedicated collaboration platform streamlines the automated exchange of purchase orders, shipping notices, and receipt confirmations. Digital workflows replace email exchanges, reducing error risk and processing time. Each transaction is timestamped, ensuring traceability of commitments. This secure exchange relies on secure, restricted-access platforms.

EDI or Web services interfaces allow structured file exchanges without manual intervention. Partners can automatically adapt their systems to each schedule change, avoiding disruptions due to lengthy communication delays.

This transparency fosters the establishment of performance-based contracts, with indicators shared and validated by both parties. The relationship shifts from a transactional model to a cooperative mode, where mutual visibility becomes a resilience lever.

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Sourcing Diversification and Substitution Options

Diversifying supply sources limits exposure to geopolitical risks and disruptions. Implementing automated substitution options ensures production continuity.

Advanced Supplier Mapping

Supplier mapping centralizes critical information: production capacities, geographic location, past performance, and intercompany dependencies. This visibility enables precise qualification of each resource’s risk level and the detection of concentration points.

By relying on a dynamic scoring system, procurement teams can update partner ratings in real time based on criteria such as political stability, financial health, and regulatory compliance. Data is sourced from public databases and specialized sources to ensure objective evaluations.

Cross-referencing this information with business requirements feeds an automatic recommendation module. It suggests alternative suppliers as soon as a risk threshold is reached, enabling rapid issuance of requests for proposals or triggering alert orders.

Geopolitical Analysis and Risk Simulation

Trade tensions and customs restrictions can suddenly impact access to certain raw materials. Digital systems integrate news feeds and geopolitical alerts to assess the stability of supply regions. This information is cross-referenced with planned volumes to gauge the potential impact’s magnitude.

Simulating the loss of a major supplier allows quantification of capacity loss and calculation of potential additional costs related to alternate transportation. The results guide action prioritization and feed into continuity plans presented to management and production teams.

These analyses consider the conjunction of multiple variables, such as export quotas, health risks, or climatic events, offering a comprehensive view of risk and better anticipation of variances.

Automatic Raw Material Substitution

Establishing a technical repository of available materials and components facilitates identification of compatible substitutes. Databases include functional characteristics, standards, and certifications associated with each potential substitution.

When the system signals an imminent shortage, it can automatically generate a purchase request to the validated substitute supplier while adjusting production parameters in the ERP. This automation reduces reaction time and limits production line stoppages.

Management of these substitutions is based on configurable business rules that filter options according to cost, quality, and lead time thresholds. Project managers still have the option to manually approve certain decisions based on specific constraints.

Dynamic Stock Levels and Inventory Automation

Continuous adjustment of stock levels based on real-time data minimizes working capital and limits stockouts. Automated cycle counts ensure accurate records without operational interruptions.

Dynamic Stock Level Reassessment

Defining replenishment thresholds relies on real-time projected indicators: historical consumption, updated lead times, and variability detected by predictive analysis. Safety parameters are automatically adjusted based on market fluctuations.

When the safety stock threshold is reached, the system generates priority purchase orders synchronized with the production schedule. This approach ensures availability of critical components while limiting excess inventory of less strategic items.

Integration with financial management modules allows measurement of the direct impact on working capital and optimization of tied-up capital. Consolidated reports provide a detailed view of liquidity gains achieved through dynamic management.

Automated Cycle Counts

Robotic solutions combined with RFID enable continuous partial inventories without closing storage areas. Autonomous carts or drones perform scheduled scans, supplemented by handheld readers for hard-to-reach items.

Detected discrepancies are reported in real time to the ERP’s inventory module, triggering automatic adjustments or control alerts. This automation significantly reduces costs and errors associated with manual counting while maintaining high inventory accuracy.

A textbook example is an e-commerce company specializing in online furniture sales. Data accuracy increased by 92%, enabling a 20% reduction in stockouts and a marked optimization of purchasing.

ERP Integration and APIs/Web Services

To ensure data consistency, procurement, inventory management, and planning modules must be interconnected via secure APIs. Each logistical event triggers a standard exchange, ensuring instant updates across all systems.

Hybrid architectures combine open-source building blocks and custom developments to meet the specific requirements of Swiss industrial sectors. RESTful Web services and messaging protocols transport event streams reliably and with timestamps.

This interconnection enables management of all critical indicators from a centralized cockpit and automation of feedback loops. Operational teams thus benefit from a consolidated view and continuous control of supply chain performance.

Turn Your Supply Chain into a Competitive Advantage

The eight levers presented offer a holistic approach to strengthen supply chain resilience in an unstable environment. From agile forecasting to inventory automation, each digital component contributes to smoother collaboration between teams, suppliers, and carriers. Integrating a modern ERP or a custom platform then serves as a unified foundation for managing planning, inventory, and responsiveness to disruptions.

For medium and large industrial companies in Switzerland, accelerating supply chain digitalization is no longer an option but a strategic necessity. Edana’s experts support these organizations in defining and implementing scalable, modular, and secure solutions, prioritizing open source and avoiding vendor lock-in. Our contextual approach guarantees sustainable ROI and continuous adaptation to business challenges.

Discuss your challenges with an Edana expert

PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.

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Digital Consultancy & Business (EN) Featured-Post-Transformation-EN

BI and ERP: Uniting Operational and Strategic Data to Steer Industry with Precision

BI and ERP: Uniting Operational and Strategic Data to Steer Industry with Precision

Auteur n°4 – Mariami

In the Swiss manufacturing sector, the proliferation of operational and strategic data requires moving beyond isolated Excel spreadsheets and siloed architectures. The challenge is to establish a robust data foundation that orchestrates ERP, BI, and AI within an open, scalable ecosystem.

This technical framework transforms data flows from procurement, production, or the supply chain into unified metrics, reliable forecasts, and proactive alerts. Far from linear approaches, industrial organizations gain agility and decision-making accuracy when they treat their data as a genuine product—governed, secured, and interoperable.

Consolidating a Reliable Data Foundation

Implementing robust ETL pipelines ensures the consistency and traceability of data sourced from the ERP. Dimensional modeling and KPI centralization create a single source of truth across the enterprise.

Designing Dependable ETL Pipelines

Extract-transform-load (ETL) pipelines must guarantee data quality from the moment of ingestion by applying validation rules and consistency checks. To explore data migration strategies and best practices, see our dedicated data migration article.

In an industrial context, ERP data covers procurement, production, and inventory management. A well-configured pipeline collects this information multiple times a day, applies business filters, and timestamps each processing stage. This approach enables tracking metric evolution and meeting internal audit requirements.

Monitoring errors and discrepancies via a control dashboard allows immediate response to missing or inconsistent data. This proactive oversight forms the first building block of a sustainable data foundation, facilitating scalability and the integration of new business systems.

Optimized Dimensional Modeling

The structure of dimensional models (fact and dimension tables) transforms raw data into analytical cubes tailored to use cases. Each metric becomes a measure linked to analysis axes such as time, production unit, or component type.

Star and snowflake schemas simplify complex query writing while ensuring high performance on large data warehouses. Explore our article on NoSQL databases to learn more.

Dimensional models maintain consistency across dashboards, whether for operational management or executive reporting. This consistency eliminates interpretation gaps and manual double-entry in Excel.

Centralizing Industrial Metrics

A unified KPI repository brings together production, quality, and cost indicators in a single analytical space. This centralization simplifies performance comparisons across factories and production lines.

Dynamic reports provide a consolidated view, with the option to create customized dashboards for every hierarchical level, from plant managers to CFOs. This approach ensures precise, strategy-aligned management.

Example: A Swiss mechanical components manufacturer consolidated its KPIs into a single data warehouse, cutting monthly reconciliation time by 40%. This case highlights the efficiency of a centralized data foundation, freeing teams from manual tasks and refocusing efforts on analysis and business value.

Integrating and Orchestrating Business Systems

Opening the ecosystem to MES, CRM, IoT, and PLM breaks ERP silos and enriches the decision-making perspective. Controlled orchestration of these components provides the cross-functional analysis essential for comprehensive management.

Connecting Production Metrics (MES)

Integrating Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) captures real-time machine data, cycle times, and downtime events. When combined with ERP production orders, you gain an accurate view of equipment throughput and utilization.

This synchronization ensures alignment between planned schedules and actual execution, generating alerts for speed variances or scrap. It also feeds machine-load forecasting and maintenance planning models.

Example: A Swiss composite materials producer interfaced its MES with its ERP, automatically detecting performance drift on one production line. This example demonstrates the operational value of system integration for anticipating unplanned stoppages and optimizing equipment availability.

Synchronizing Customer and Supplier Data (CRM and ERP)

Automatic data exchange between CRM and ERP fosters seamless collaboration with customers and suppliers. Sales forecasts flow into the ERP to adjust purchase orders and plan production.

Conversely, inventory and delivery-time information from the ERP enriches the CRM, giving sales teams instant visibility into order feasibility. For deeper insights on CRM and ERP integration, see our dedicated article.

Unifying contacts, opportunities, and transactions ensures granular traceability of the entire sales cycle—from prospecting to invoicing, including delivery scheduling.

Leveraging IoT Sensors and PLM

Integrating IoT sensors into the data architecture enriches analysis with field metrics: temperature, flow, vibration, and energy consumption. These signals enable anomaly detection or feed predictive scenarios.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) adds the design dimension by linking bill-of-materials structures and engineering changes to operational workflows. This connection ensures every design modification is immediately reflected in production planning.

The convergence of PLM, ERP, and IoT creates a digital thread from R&D through on-site maintenance, ensuring technical information consistency and capturing field feedback for continuous improvement loops.

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Deploying Advanced Use Cases

Predictive scenarios and anomaly detection enhance industrial responsiveness. Financial simulations and supplier scoring optimize the value chain.

Load and Production Forecasting

Machine learning algorithms analyze order history, demand trends, and seasonal data to anticipate capacity needs. This predictive intelligence enables proactive planning of human and material resources.

By aligning forecasts with actual production line capacities, you can optimize scheduling and avoid overloading or idle periods. The tool generates scenarios and proposes the optimal trade-off between cost and lead time.

For example, a Swiss consumer goods SME implemented a demand forecasting model, reducing inventory costs by 18% while maintaining a service level above 97%. This case illustrates the power of automated forecasting to balance stock and production flows.

Proactive Anomaly Detection

Real-time processing of production metrics quickly identifies outliers or process drifts. Alerts can be configured on dynamic thresholds that account for seasonal variations or raw material constraints.

When an anomaly is detected, the system notifies operational leaders immediately, eliminating the wait for monthly reports. This proactive approach prevents scrap and minimizes incident impact on the supply chain.

By combining IoT sensor data with ERP logs, detection covers both product quality and machine performance, enabling predictive maintenance and continuous operational control.

Financial Simulations and Supplier Scoring

Financial simulations cross-analyze cost, margin, and cash-flow parameters to assess the impact of strategic scenarios (e.g., raw material price fluctuations or lead-time changes). They guide trade-off decisions among volume, inventory, and investment.

Supplier scoring assigns a performance index based on delivery reliability, component quality, and price stability. This metric informs negotiations and secures the supply chain.

Adopting an Open, Scalable BI Architecture

Open-source BI solutions and cloud data warehouses deliver maximum flexibility. Custom connectors ensure interoperability and system scalability.

Open-Source BI and No Vendor Lock-In

Free-and-open BI platforms like Metabase or Apache Superset offer unmatched customization and scalability. Access to source code enables feature adaptation without vendor dependency.

Avoiding vendor lock-in keeps companies in control of their roadmap and budget. Open-source communities also provide continuous support and regular updates.

This mindset fosters innovation and modularity: each component can be replaced or enhanced without risking the entire ecosystem.

Modern Cloud Data Warehouse

Cloud data warehouses like Snowflake or BigQuery combine massive storage with scalable computing power. They automatically adapt to query peaks and ensure consistent performance.

Resource elasticity in public or private clouds prevents costly overprovisioning and reduces operational footprint. Costs align with actual usage, supporting flexible financial governance.

Implementing a hybrid Data Lakehouse preserves raw data while offering optimized BI views without data loss.

Custom Connectors for Specific Needs

Custom connectors enable continuous data collection from proprietary systems or in-house applications. They ensure rapid KPI refresh in dashboards.

Developing integration micro-services allows new data flows to be added without disrupting existing operations. Discover how to choose between micro-services and a modular monolith.

This modular approach also simplifies ERP upgrades and business-tool rollouts since interfaces are decoupled and well documented.

Steering Swiss Manufacturing with Unified, Agile Data

A solid data foundation, orchestrated business systems, advanced use cases, and an open BI architecture form the pillars of precise, responsive management. Companies that treat data as a mature product gain full visibility, accelerated decision-making, and adaptability under supply-chain pressures.

Moving beyond the “ERP + Excel” paradigm to build an evolving data ecosystem offers immediate competitive advantage for Swiss industry. Our experts are ready to support each organization in defining, implementing, and optimizing these customized architectures, with a focus on open source, security, and modularity.

Discuss your challenges with an Edana expert

PUBLISHED BY

Mariami Minadze

Mariami is an expert in digital strategy and project management. She audits the digital ecosystems of companies and organizations of all sizes and in all sectors, and orchestrates strategies and plans that generate value for our customers. Highlighting and piloting solutions tailored to your objectives for measurable results and maximum ROI is her specialty.