Profit Magazine - February 2008

“Instead of optimizing individual processes in functional areas, we’re now able to look at optimizing whole, end-to-end processes.”

—Kevin Myers, CIO, SeverStal NA

2008, followed by Oracle Order Management.

“The biggest benefit of moving to Oracle E-Business Suite is that it’s an integrated suite—we’ll be able to have better access to data, more-efficient workflows, and greater productivity,” says Myers. “Instead of optimizing individual processes in functional areas, we’re now able to look at optimizing whole, end-to-end processes. For example, in our procure-to-pay processes today, there’s very little or no integration with our purchasing system. But with the integrated application suite, the workflows will greatly streamline our operations.”

Another key benefit for SNA will be in the significant reduction in the time it takes the company to close its books. Whereas it currently takes 8 to 10 days to close the books, SNA will be able to close them in 5 days or less when Oracle E-Business Suite is deployed. Those types of results will only help fuel SNA’s future growth, especially when the company is constantly making decisions about strategic direction.

“Technology plays a key role in our expansion strategy. We’re always looking for opportunities, and we need to have the right tools and technologies in place to run various investment scenarios,” says Kuznetsov. “Speed in reporting is also critical. The faster we can consolidate and report financial information, the better equipped we are to update our business plans and determine where to invest our money.”

In addition, the new system will support much better communication and collaboration with SNA’s partners and suppliers. “To gain better control over the supply base, we’re implementing Oracle iSupplier Portal, Oracle iProcurement, and Oracle Sourcing,” says Myers. “It will enable us to collaborate more effectively and provide capabilities such as electronic quoting and self-service applications. We see these systems as enabling us to set new standards in the steel industry. In the future, we want our competitors to be benchmarking their systems against ours.”

Future growth is especially important to SNA and its parent company. “It’s important for us to be able to grow effectively—the better we can manage our data here, the better reporting we can provide to our parent company in Russia and the better decisions it can make on a global scale,” says Myers. “We see a lot of benefits of moving to Oracle E-Business Suite. It’s a platform we can expand and grow with, because of its scalability and flexibility.”

Wei Zaisheng, ZTE’s CFO, attributes part of the company’s globalization success to its ability to tailor its solutions for different customer and country needs.

Being part of a global giant requires good coordination between corporate goals and individual business unit needs. For SNA the solution to that coordination problem is part of its guiding philosophy, succinctly summed up by the phrase “think globally, act locally.”

“With our deployment of Oracle E-Business Suite, we’re doing our part to meet that objective,” says Myers. “Oracle will help us grow organically or through acquisition. We can roll out new units on the same platform, centralize operations, and leverage the capabilities we already have. As we grow, our goal is to simplify, standardize, and globalize.”

ZTE: COMPETING AT A GLOBAL LEVEL

For many companies, capturing a large share of the market comes down to competing on cost or on service and quality. But ZTE, a China-based telecom equipment and services company and an emerging global giant, is proving that forward-looking companies can do both.

“We recognize that if telecom equipment providers compete solely on cost, we may not survive as an industry and may be overtaken by disruptive new entrants,” says Wei Zaisheng, chief financial officer of ZTE. “As a latecomer to the industry, we’ve put forward a different competitive strategy that focuses on maximizing the value chain for telecom operators, suppliers, and the end users we all service. Value management and the promotion of a harmonious industrial ecosystem have become core to everything we do.”