The global economic outlook is uncertain yet again. In a volatile economic environment, companies want more IT support to their operation, but at less cost than before, says Thiru Vengadam, managing director, IFS Solutions India, an enterprise software company. India, an emerging economy, has witnessed unprecedented levels of economic expansion, along with countries such as China, Russia, Mexico and Brazil. India is investing in the infrastructure sector such as building of roads, dams, power plants, airports, sea ports and railways. ?Today ERP is a basic infrastructure requirement for companies engaged in these sectors and an essential ingredient for their business growth and competitive position in the market,? he tells Sudhir Chowdhary in a recent interaction. Excerpts:

What are the challenges that large enterprises are facing in managing their IT operations?

While there are many challenges, the major ones are for IT to support the dynamic business environment. Business environments are constantly changing at a faster pace than ever before and their IT systems need to be flexible enough to support the changes as well as additional requirements. The other major challenges we see now is the shrinking IT budgets of companies. They want more IT support to their operation, but at less cost than before.

Share with us your thoughts on the evolution of ERP over the years?

Some 30 years ago, IT systems were developed with a focus on tracking material inventory in large companies and slowly got production and sales information also added helping to maintain the right level of stock. These systems were called MRP systems and helped in maintaining the right levels of stock, finished goods, etc. with a focus on reducing the inventory cost. Over the next decade inclusion of planning, manufacturing controls, marketing and distribution in to these systems helped companies to achieve higher levels of predictability in their deliveries to their customers and improved productivity of their operations. These systems were called MRP-II and were generally large applications used by manufacturing companies.

In the 1990s, these gave way to ERP applications that integrated all stake holders including the employees, suppliers, their customers and service providers to improve their efficiencies by using these applications ? irrespective of what product or service they deliver. The ERP applications also used better technology and architecture and became modular in nature such that customers can be pick and chose what is relevant for their business, etc.

By the integration of all business process in a company, the ERP systems provided clear visibility and effective control to the management in achieving their business objectives. ERP applications also became global supporting multi country requirements, multiple industry, multiple accounting standards, multiple currencies, multiple languages, etc. such that companies can use an ERP applications anywhere in the world and consolidate at their head office levels.

Some of the key trends in recent years…

In the last decade, the customers started demanding industry specific functionalities in the ERP systems and ERP systems such as IFS focus on certain industry sectors only. These systems provide the closest fitment to the customer as it is not a general purpose ERP but an industry specific one. As a developing country, India is investing in the infrastructure sector such as building of roads, dams, power plants, airports, sea ports, railway, etc. IFS Applications offer comprehensive functionality to support all aspect of these EPC industries as a single business application.

Today ERP is a basic infrastructure requirement for companies and an essential ingredient for their business growth, sustenance and competitive position in the market.

ERP as of now has been dominated by players like SAP and Oracle. What differentiation does IFS Solutions offer?

IFS focuses on industries that are capital intensive such as oil & gas, power generation, power transmission, EPC, complex manufacturing, ports & terminals, and aerospace and defence. IFS has the closest fitment among all ERP vendors to these industries ? which means it would take lesser time to implement our solution, and would also cost less to the customer.

Which are the key sectors IFS India is currently focusing and why?

IFS is built to support 4 core processes ? service and asset management, supply chain management, manufacturing and projects. We find these as critical requirements in the sectors like oil & gas, power generation, power transmission, EPC, complex manufacturing, ports & terminals, and aerospace and defence. We have over 2,000 customers in the world in these industries.

Can you share some of your key successful implementation in some of these sectors?

IFS Applications have been implemented in National Hydro Electric Power Corporation, the largest hydro power producer in India. The application is used from over 32 locations of the company, and is supported as a centralised deployment. We also implemented for Andhra Pradesh Transmission Company. Hindustan Aeronautics has deployed IFS applications in a company wide manner across multiple divisions as a decentralised deployment. EPC companies such as Bhilai Engineering, Beekay, BSBK, Abir Infrastructure, VA Tech Wabag, etc use IFS Applications to manage their project based environments. Ports and terminals such as Gujarat Pipavav Port, India Container Terminal at Nava Seva in Mumbai, etc, also use IFS Applications.

What is the company?s strategy for the Indian market?

IFS has an excellent product with a better fitment to our target industry segments. We are building a partner network of systems integrators, channel sales partners, implementation partners to deliver our solution to the Indian market effectively. We believe we can have 300 customers in the next 2 years time. Our customers will see better return on their investments with IFS Applications.