An Intro to Real-Time Data Anchoring and Legacy ERP Systems

Comprehensive data visibility is still a big challenge in enterprise resource planning.

Everybody’s doing it at least once in a couple of years, and there’s no end in sight — constant upgrading and re-platforming of the company’s core ERP. And the more reputable IT advice on ‘digital innovation’ and ‘advanced collaboration technologies’ lands into your lap, the more vigorously you start to research new vendors and offers. Let alone the current COVID situation that requires all companies to literally update or die.

Cutting through the noise is one rational need: to get real-time data to enable adequate decision-making in distributed and hybrid work set-ups. So, how do you manage business processes and information while navigating the world of cloud and mobile ERP suites? And how to win the race to ‘faster, smarter and automated’ without compromising your company’s integrity?

CIOs today agree that reimplementation of legacy ERP modules every few years doesn’t add long-term value to your ERP software, nor any new efficiency and functionality to your operational system. ‘Package-ectomies’, a malpractice that swaps out one application for another with materially similar functionality, only brings implementation risk and additional costs. Taraxa aims to change that, and the best part is that you get to keep the most of the existing stack.

DLT adds a powerful data anchoring capability to enterprise resource planning.

A much better idea is looking at what modules and functionalities are missing out on performance, and add the features that specifically address those pain points. The first question CIOs should be asking is: “Can we ring-fence the old ERP and do our transformative initiatives with new/non-ERP technology?”

A common denominator to get you started on the smart ERP optimization path is getting access to accurate and relevant data. To give your employees access to real-time information, as well as customer communications across business units, you need to add the capability to track and record streams of data end-to-end.

Enterprise-grade DLT solutions offer a cost-effective way to introduce a powerful data anchoring capability without re-implementing ERP. Blockchain becomes a standard part of the company’s infrastructure that is easy to onboard and seamless to run.

The data anchoring functionality is made as simple as enabling a toggle inside an API so that you’re able to systematically anchor critical operations data into an immutable audit trail. This will add a game-changing quality of trust within the company, between businesses, and with regulators. Better trust means less time spent on administrative verification and auditing, less cost and friction spent on resolving disputes, and ultimately more time to simply build and ship better products.

A blockchain-powered platform specifically addresses the problem of data visibility by implanting trust-verifying mechanisms to the core of your front and back-office. Through these integrations, daily casual, handshake agreements are captured, signed by the users’ keys, and their hashes anchored into the blockchain.

So what are these value props?

When it comes to off-chain data, DLT's core value prop is the audit trail property. Here's what you ultimately get:

Quality data

Get only the data you need and never miss a bit. Our data audit log confidently captures and integrates critical operational transactions into your ERP system, thus helping you to collect data more easily and confidently.

Comprehensive data visibility.

A unique market offering aimed at companies of all sizes that benefit from increased process visibility and stakeholder accountability.

Better performance and greater team productivity.

Gain a competitive advantage through instant access to real-time operational data, and shorten the approval times. Our tech can also be enabled on mobile giving workers in the field all the right tools and information to eliminate discrepancies and downtime in performance.

IoT compatibility and direct machine-to-machine integration.

Ability to easily utilize data feeds from external sources such as customer and partner interactions.

Bolster, Not Replace: Addressing the Tension Cost

The so-called tension cost, i.e. the time and money vs. the utility of new technology, is probably the most pressing concern when it comes to bringing in innovation. But fear not, blockchain indeed makes everything smoother and hassle-free adding business value fast without disrupting the existing systems.

These solutions can be installed in a matter of days and will seamlessly integrate with your current ERP modules without failures or delays. Neither does it require any staff re-training. This is exactly the approach recognized by digital transformation leaders across the board:

‘We found that our customers are using third-party support to accelerate digital transformation outside their core ERP, in key areas such as cloud, people apps (human capital management and customer relationship management), and intelligence and automation. They can maintain the availability, security, and performance of their ERP core while innovating around the edges, taking advantage of emerging technologies and their benefits without the cost and disruption of a core ERP re-platforming’.

“Digital transformation — ERP upgrade not required”, Rebecca Wettemann.

To that end, next-gen solutions use a mix of centralized vs. decentralized systems to mitigate all possible risks for our business customers. The app server is centralized, acting as a porter for the user’s signed agreements, while the smart contracts that hold these hashed records are decentralized, making sure that the central server isn’t faking, omitting, or modifying records.

Even if the server fails under some force-majeure, it won’t really negatively impact your business — you just lose the added benefit, as the integrations are plugging into your existing routine of using text, email, or chat.