Reveal
For organizations looking to enhance supply chain value and better use their enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology, Reveal is the partner of choice. Why? Reveal helps its clients maximize the ROI from their SAP ERP system by educating them on how they can use their existing technology to achieve their business goals.
Reveal Thought Leader Sean Elliffe explains. “By managing the information, the organization is able to better manage the business,” he says. “The ERP system, as an integrated process environment, makes it possible to manage exceptions rather than everything. This creates the time for management to target further opportunities and continuously realize returns.”
Optimization Efforts
According to Elliffe, Reveal has translated business and technology best practices into an internationally validated methodology that focuses on education, user certification, change management, organizational structure alignment, effective data-sharing, discipline and governance within an integrated supply chain.
“Our methodology has a singular goal: to help companies achieve ‘ongoing VALUE optimization (oVo)’ within their current enterprise application environment,” he says. “This means that we help clients better use and understand the tools already available to them so that they can get the most out of their ERP system. Our focus is education for our clients so they are aware of what they have and what they can do with it.”
A core business driver of Reveal is to help clients achieve what it calls “Information Maturity.” This means supporting clients to better manage information so they can better manage their businesses.
The methodology helps employees to better understand the capabilities of their ERP systems and how to better use it in building an integrated supply chain. Issues addressed by the trademarked oVo methodology vary from targeted areas in the ERP system to a complete framework of the supply chain. “We harness the abilities and knowledge of people and get that knowledge into the SAP system,” Elliffe says. “Once it is in the system, we can set sustainable goals.”
The oVo process has a five-stage comprehensive approach. It begins with a five-day “Wellness Assessment” that looks at the current state of the client’s supply chain. Reveal can then provide recommendations and create a roadmap that can chart the path toward improvement.
From there, it moves directly into the oVo methodology, which includes the preparation and business engagement phase, the realization phase and a verification phase. By this stage, Reveal has developed clear and measurable KPIs that drive results and objectives, setting the platform for the final phase, known as the sustainability stage. This includes the development and implementation of a governance model and includes periodic visits from Reveal to evaluate progress, monitor benefits and identify additional improvement opportunities.
Introducing “Integration Governance,” a key element in the methodology, into organizations helps them go beyond just optimizing their processes and systems. It ensures an ongoing, sustainable and lasting transformation within the company that continues to bring tangible and measurable value, year after year.
Planning for the Future
“We work to ensure that clients have a world-class integrated end-to-end supply chain,” Elliffe says. “Then we make sure we improve performance through measurement. The oVo methodology allows companies to see ROI on the ERP system they’ve already invested in without investing in more technology. They can then use the system to remove cost, adapting quickly in ways that can impact their profitability. The oVo projects are essentially self-funded because of the additional functionality the client gets from their existing investment.”
Many clients have seen positive results from the oVo methodology, including Lord Corporation, Rust-Oleum and Siemens. Some clients have seen improvements that include inventory reduction of up to 30 percent and a complete return on investment within a year.
“We’ve worked with many organizations and have found that they all are at varying states of maturity,” Elliffe says. “Today many organizations remain transaction-focused and therefore they do not achieve the value they expected when they originally invested in their ERP system. They are simply fighting fires constantly. Some of these companies engage in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), but it often happens outside the ERP system. We have been able to show them how to use the ERP tool to get S&OP into the system and thereby reduce operating capital, aligning operations across global sites, and improving inventory and transportation management.”
Improving S&OP is a major part of the oVo methodology because it establishes production rates and helps companies to maintain, raise or lower inventories or backlogs while maintaining a stable workforce. Reveal can help organizations drive effective S&OP processes and routines.
“From procurement to delivery, executives make decisions that impact day-to-day activities while also making future plans,” Elliffe says. “This can happen in a disjointed fashion at times. Demanding customers and extended supply chains can make management difficult. S&OP is a key tool to help align long-term business goals with daily and monthly operations.”
With this in mind, Reveal continuously improves its offerings for the future. It needs to make sure it is bringing in the right people and resources ahead of its growth curve. In this process, the company is looking to align with organizations that share its passion for excellence and who can contribute to growth via mutual benefits.
“Those are key areas that support the product mix, make sure clients are aligned, and allow us to enter into partnerships with like-minded organizations,” Elliffe says. “We want to keep growing the post-implementation space and stay relevant by making sure people understand our capabilities.”