The future of Jeeves ERP

Michaela Schattauer
January 2020

The future of Jeeves ERP

What is demanded of Jeeves in the future - and where are we headed? At the Jeeves Industry eXperience event in Stockholm, Jeeves Product Director, Alfred Gerum, talked about the integral development of technology and society - and pinpointed 5 trends that will affect the future of Jeeves.

 

Cloud

There is no doubt that the future is in the cloud - but the question is how to make the transition. Many companies have used the strategy of simply taking their software into the cloud and then hoping for the best - with varied results.

"We have no reason to do that," said Alfred Gerum. He explained that Jeeves’ intention is to make the journey into a full-fledged cloud system incrementally.

Jeeves is today available both as an installed version and as a cloud service. New services will be created in the cloud - but they will be able to run from an installed version of Jeeves version 6.

- It will be a hybrid. We will make the move to the cloud when our customers are ready, Alfred Gerum said.

 

Disruption

What is the difference between innovation and disruption? Alfred Gerum asked, and quickly answered:

- Innovation is to do the same thing as before, but a little better. Disruption, on the other hand, is new things that make old things unnecessary. Often, it becomes a process where new companies with less budget take over the market from old, larger companies.

When talking about disruption, many people think that "this is not applicable to my industry". "But that's an error in thought that many people have done before," Alfred Gerum pointed out.

He illustrated his point with the ice industry as an example. In the past, ice was broken out of lakes during the winter, and the industry was only active during the cold season.

Then along came cold storages, which made it possible to store and sell ice in the summer. And today we all have ice at home in the freezer.

None of these inventions have emerged in the industry, it has come from the outside.

- Disruption does not come from within an industry - it comes from the outside. And it usually comes when you least expect it. At Jeeves, we have the mindset that some things will be done in a completely different way in the future. "You have to think again to keep up," said Alfred Gerum.

 

Generation Z

The next generation to enter working life is called generation Z. They were born between 1997 and 2010, were raised by generation X and have grown up during a recession.

They don't know a life without mobiles: 40 percent say they depend on their smartphones. And 70% spend more than two hours a day watching Youtube.

- This is a new type of person coming into working life. Generation Z tends to be pragmatic, they expect to work hard and are ready to move location if the job requires it. But they only want to work with brands that have a genuine feel, said Alfred Gerum.

When this group of employees comes into working life, it places new demands on Jeeves.

- We have to be relevant. If we are to work with a generation of people who move around and work with brands that are genuine, then staying relevant is the key.

 

Physical products will become digital

The way we sell physical products is changing. Physical products become digital - and sold as services.

Alfred Gerum highlighted the ball bearing company SKF as an example. They now deliver an iPad together with their ball bearings. Sensors in the ball bearings measure temperatures and vibrations, to ensure that important spare parts are ordered automatically, well in advance before a ball bearing breaks.

- SKF charges you for not getting downtime in your systems, Alfred Gerum noted.

Another example is Sandvik, which wants to charge per ton of land drilled - instead of selling the tools and drill.

- This is a whole new concept, and a development we are following with excitement at Jeeves. We build concepts around this, so that you can make these changes in your companies.

 

Artificial Intelligence

A characteristic of AI is that it is completely disrespectful to processes. That's because AI doesn't think linearly, explained Alfred Gerum, showing an experiment to the audience, where a human competes against AI in a computer game. The movie shows how AI quickly finds a hack in the game, repeating the same loop, over and over again, to get the maximum number of points.
- It gets more points, but the idea of the whole game disappears along the way. And this is what us humans must help AI with. It is our responsibility to calibrate AI to do sensible things, said Alfred Gerum.

One consequence of this responsibility is that the role of the CIO is changing. CIO’s need to become skilled in leadership and communication to be able to explain technology in a language that management understands.

- CIO’s must learn how to add value on the last line to C-level executives and the owners. If you do not, you will be without a job.

 

Efficiency - and curiosity

Alfred Gerum concluded by explaining that efficiency is a key word for Jeeves: the system must become more efficient with each version.

- And we will be interested in every new technology that comes along. Just like you are. Jeeves of the future is developed by us all together - all of us who are employed by Jeeves, and all customers.

The future of Jeeves ERP