Harish: To that point, we have always looked at transformation, modernization, very objectively. For us, it’s just not about upgrading a system. That’s not what it is. Any modernization or transformation should add measurable business value is our model, is our charter. Having said that, we don’t look at modernization in terms of just upgrades, but in what it gets our business in terms of value.
Most of our modernization transformation approaches are focused on connecting processes end-to-end across our supply chain, which is key for our business value. And then we also have a very concerted effort going on in the business community: how to standardize how our plants operate globally. Because, like I mentioned earlier, we have 100-plus plants, different processes, different legal regulations, different countries. It’s very hard for us to come up with one template across the globe, but we are trying to standardize as much as possible. And that’s where we are leveraging SAP’s Signavio, which is our business process management tool. We want to leverage Signavio’s capabilities in helping us standardize these global processes.
Now, back to your question, why did integration come first? Because the backbone of any contemporary or modern organization is data. And to get the right data at the right time, integration is the key aspect of the whole optimization exercise. Data needed to flow seamlessly before we start optimizing or automating or even applying AI use cases. This is where integration came first.
We wanted to create a single system of record across the operations. Well, when I say “single system of record,” it’s not just SAP, but the ability for us to create those data pipelines across those systems of record being supply chain, planning, inventory, et cetera, et cetera, in that operation space.
The result is we want to get to a foundation that helps us scale consistently across our different region. That is our main objective is to, how do we scale as the business grows, as we develop into this bigger organization across different industries? How do we set this foundation that will help us scale consistently? Simplicity, consolidation becomes strategic assets at scale.
Megan: Absolutely. And you touched on some of the complexities there of doing this at a scale that Jabil is at with its international footprint. What were some of the biggest challenges in your view in terms of rolling this out across regions, and how did that more standardized approach that you’ve mentioned there help?
Harish: Absolutely. I would like to reiterate some of those key challenges I mentioned. One hundred-plus sites, different sites have different maturity levels in terms of how they approach processes. They have a multitude of different legacy systems, localized processes, workarounds, spreadsheets, and the change management that exists within each site is very different. And we do have a footprint of highly regulated businesses. And when it comes to regulated businesses, that comes with its own set of challenges around qualification and CSD processes, et cetera. These are the key challenges that we are up against.
Now, the standardization helped us provide consistent workflows, data flows, and governance across sites. Now, we are not there at 100%, but we are working towards that, providing consistent workflows, data pipelines, and governance across sites. And we want to enable faster rollouts of our new bleeding edge technologies. For example, when I talked about SAP’s BTP or SAP Signavio or any other new SAP tool or non-SAP tool, traditionally our ability to deploy those had a challenge around the heavy customization that is required for each and every site. Now, the standardization approach takes that heavy customization out, which enables a faster rollout of those newer technologies.