The Digital (R)evolution: IT and Business Hand in Hand

The digitization of business is not just the elimination of paper, it's a revolution in business management. The success of major business players has confirmed that it is worth investing in IT solutions that actively work for your company.

In Polish companies, the electronic circulation of documents is commonly associated with the digitization, registration, and archiving of information stored on paper. For this reason, IT systems are most often chosen to support "classic" operations like invoice registrations and holiday applications. However, in the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, those who want to stay ahead of the pack will have to consider using systems that offer more.

Hand in hand through the digital transformation

Digitization is more than just the transition from analog to digital. It is a change in the way a company operates and thinks about management. A well-chosen system helps ensure this is a change for the better - says Łukasz Wróbel, Vice President of WEBCON.

Until recently, the department dealing with business processes were separate from the IT department, and often in conflict with one another. Whereas the job of business-oriented departments is to react swiftly to the ever-changing social, economic, and legal environment, the IT department is focused on cohesion and the continuity of processes, especially strategic ones. This unintended division often leads to conflict and frustration, and is a major problem for many companies. It doesn't have to be that way.

The reality of business is changing so rapidly that the division of processes into strategic processes and supporting processes – that is, a bimodal IT model – is starting to fade away. The demand for flexibility, which so far was concerned with supporting processes, is also starting to apply to strategic areas, which also must now react quickly to changes. IT departments must therefore provide adequate solutions to support their company’s operating departments in a rapidly changing environment, rather than just maintaining rigid procedures - continues Łukasz Wróbel.

 

A system that lives and works for the company

One example of a company that was able to successfully make the switch from digital to analog is CEDC International. CEDC is a leader of the Polish vodka market that produces brands like Żubrówka, Soplica, Bols Platinum, and Absolwent. It is also one of the largest importers and distributors of global alcohols including Grant’s, Carlo Rossi, Campari, Metaxa, Jägermeister, and many others.

The company uses a production support system in which every constituent element of the end product (like the bottle, its contents, the label, and the cap), has its own identification number. Before any new product is released, each of its elements must go through a complicated acceptance procedure. The whole procedure requires multiple approvals at various levels, as well as from various company branches. I can't imagine such a complex production process being carried out in any other way than with the help of an IT solution precisely adapted to the needs of our company - says Marcin Grotowski, Collaboration Software Developer at CEDC.

At CEDC, this solution is based on the WEBCON BPS system DROPS, and consists of three subprocesses:

  1. acceptance of a new product
  2. cost estimation
  3. acceptance of the visual elements of the product

This system has been working successfully for years now.

WEBCON BPS is not just about converting analog content to digital content - emphasizes Grotowski. The form lives, works, calculates, checks, sends emails, displays messages, and more. No ordinary form, paper or otherwise, can do that. What's more, for a regular employee, DROPS is a single application and cohesive environment that facilitates access to all their necessary work information without being overwhelming - he adds.

For Grotowski, WEBCON BPS also has another advantage: Whenever I talk about a new solution, I make it analogous to DROPS, and my people understand me immediately. Not only that, but they are immediately enthusiastic about it. They know that they can count on tried-and-true operational logic, fast service, and a zero-percent failure rate - he concludes. You can’t underscore the importance of user adoption.

 

Weight on your shoulders? More like wings on your back!

The biggest advantage of WEBCON BPS is that it allows the IT department to develop original solutions tailored to the needs of the company. As Grotowski pointed out, the IT department of CEDC was able to create its own workflows with support from WEBCON only three months after the implementation of DROPS. A year later, it turned out that DROPS required the creation of two more elements, which the CEDC IT department developed independently in consultation with WEBCON.

Today, the system is made up of three integrated elements that were gradually developed in response to the needs of the company. As Grotowski admits, using the standard systems available on the market would require a great deal of investment in time, labor, and expenses. Because WEBCON BPS offers a single foundation, it is relatively easy to scale, expand and change - says the CEDC expert. This is particularly important when there are no definitive decisions with regard to specific solutions that need to be applied, and the development process is fluid.

Currently at CEDC, we want to transfer as many processes as possible into the system” explains Grotowski, “because it simply makes our work easier. WEBCON BPS is replacing classic workflows using paper documents, such as those for invoicing and holiday applications, but also serves the entire hiring cycle. Everything from recruitment, issuing authorizations and signing contracts, to the payment of salaries. CEDC also use WEBCON BPS in novel ways, like serving authorization passes for freightliner trucks. In this case, the easy-to-use interface allows for the close monitoring of warehouse resources.

Finding a solution similar to WEBCON BPS from an external vendor would not be an easy task, because such precisely adapted solutions are created according to the needs of each individual business. This could potentially require the use of services from several suppliers, as well as various platforms which may not be integrated with one another, and dragging out implementation times.

 

Help business love IT

An additional value of WEBCON BPS is its ability to compile all the information an employee needs into one place. Its versatility also allows us to propose customized solutions to specific departments, solutions even better than the ones we were originally asked for. The only limitation to the system is your imagination - Grotowski sums up.

Łukasz Wróbel from WEBCON notes that many IT departments have become full partners in achieving a company's business goals thanks to WEBCON BPS. Many business employees praise their counterparts from the IT department who use WEBCON BPS to create intuitive and practical tools that take cumbersome and repetitive tasks off their hands. This allows them to spend their time more efficiently. The system is their partner, and it is used by the entire company - says the Vice President of WEBCON.

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WEBCON is the leading European-based provider of a complete Low-code Application Platform for mass delivering business solutions. Companies choose WEBCON to dramatically reduce time and cost of app development. The platform allows them to automate and manage business processes across the entire organization – using a single, unified platform. Thanks to its unique InstantChange™ technology, WEBCON embraces change like no other platform on the market.

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