UdZ 01.21

FOCUS – BEST PRACTICES 26 / UdZ 2-2021 Successful Start for “Congress on Business Applications” OnlyThoseWho Change Remain Stable Congress on Business Applications Aachen J une 23 rd marked the premiere of the “Congress on Business Applications Aachen – Solutions for Production and Logistics” (CBA Aachen) at FIR at RWTH Aachen University . With an expanded view of the entire field of business applications, the new trade event replaces the traditional Aachen ERP Days. The leap to the next level comes at exactly the right time, as the system structure in companies is also changing in the course of the digital transformation. Companies are increasingly relying on different systems to meet the diverse requirements of order processing. Questions about the interaction between IT and processes for value-added end-to-end order processing are therefore more topical than ever. More than 150 participants followed presentations and field reports in the live stream, learned about new technologies, used the chat to exchange experiences and discussed their concerns in breakout sessions. Partners presented their services and solutions, including the Exclusive Partners of CBA Aachen 2021, Abas Software GmbH and Asseco Solution AG . Volker Stich, Professor and Managing Director of FIR , spoke about the digital transformation and its effects in his introductory keynote speech, thus once again demonstrating the expansion of content realized with the new event concept of the CBA Aachen realized contentwise extension on all operational application systems. The change takes place on many levels: Purely monolithic systems are increasingly being replaced by modular system structures that enable flexible and efficient integration into companies’ individual IT landscapes, the market is no longer dominated by just a few vendors, and the focus has also changed: Whereas the focus used to be on the transformable factory and, at its core, on the design of available resources, today, in addition to machines and systems, the organizational structure, corporate culture and IT are also moving into the area of consideration. They all have to be integrated in order to achieve the overriding goal of customer centricity. Because that’s what it’s all about in the end – absolute orientation to customer needs is becoming the factor that determines success. The ADAM ® framework developed by FIR integrates all of the above aspects and aligns the technology infrastructure with business development. In this way, all activities derived from ADAM ® pay off in terms of customer benefits and help to deploy suitable technical options. The importance of an integrating approach was also shown by best practices for the implementation of order processing as well as for the organization of system introductions. Gaby Droll, TÜV-Rheinland GmbH , also referred to this fact in her presentation title “IT harmonization: technology, people and processes using the example of Order2Cash”. She considers it indispensable to prepare employees for changes through targeted communication and to involve them in the project from the very beginning. Jens Wulff, Neumann & Esser Group , also experienced during the digital transformation of his company that a clear common vision, the early involvement of those affected and the celebration of visible successes contribute significantly to the success of the implementation of business applications. However, it is also important not to focus on the big picture, but to start at the core of what is happening first. In their joint project “Intelligent Process Automation in Purchasing”, Christian Leopoldseder, Asseco Solutions AG , und Yvonne Ache, Springer Maschinenfabrik GmbH , identified data quality as well as data and process understanding as core variables for the success of change projects, in addition to the elimination of insular thinking. Today, business applications must be networked in such a way that information is quickly accessible and supports