QAD Advanced Technology Program Enables Rapid Identification and Adoption of Industry 4.0 Technologies for Manufacturers

QAD Inc. In a manufacturing world that is ruled by disruption, the QAD Advanced Technology Program gives manufacturers a proven, reliable process to navigate Industry 4.0 technology.

“In the business world today, technology is a primary disruptor that drives an increasingly rapid pace of change. History has shown that failure to adapt could cost you your business and with the time to adapt becoming more and more compressed, being agile is essential to staying competitive,” said QAD CTO Tony Winter. “The QAD Advanced Technology Program drives a pipeline of innovation, basically identifying, vetting and productizing new manufacturing-related technologies that enhance our applications and help our customers’ businesses. This is done by partnering with our customers as part of the QAD Labs to validate true business value from new technologies or innovative ways of thinking. Then, using the QAD Enterprise Platform we can deliver, at scale, technological innovation that provides value to our customer’s businesses through functional Apps. Our goal is to allow our customers to adapt rapidly to change with little disruption to their businesses.”

Winter developed the QAD Advanced Technology Program to help QAD customers navigate the fast-moving and crucially important world of technological innovation as it applies to manufacturing companies and the processes they use to run their businesses. Manufacturers must evaluate an ever-changing array of new technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, robotic process automation, data lakes and advanced analytics, and employ business solutions that allow them to leverage these technologies for competitive advantage by solving real-world business problems.

The QAD Advanced Technology Program progresses through four equally important phases. First, QAD monitors for new technologies searching for an insight that might improve its enterprise software solutions. This identification is the first step in the lifecycle by which a new technology is applied to QAD’s business and added to a QAD solution. Second, QAD educates customers on the capabilities of a new technology and works with them to define a common terminology. QAD builds a brainstorming partnership with domain experts and passionate customers to identify opportunities where new technologies can offer a real value to solving customer business challenges. When a new technology is matched with a business case, QAD then promotes this to the QAD Labs. This is the home for experimentation and the eventual validation of the application of new technology to a problem related to ERP or other business processes. This phase includes prototyping, testing and trials and in the end, deciding exactly how to apply the new technology to solve the business problem. Once this phase is complete, the last step, productizing the solution begins. Apps and the Platform can be deployed to an existing QAD Adaptive Apps system, such as QAD Adaptive ERP, without having to upgrade the entire system. QAD uses the Platform to bring the new technology to its customers quickly. It gives the technology a home within QAD’s solutions.

The Platform’s architecture enables new technology to be added to QAD solutions in a way that best supports the specific business needs of the customer. Based on a modern microservices architecture, the QAD Enterprise Platform includes a set of layered services, referred to as Foundation Services and Core Model that spans the needs of a modern web-based and mobile ERP and supply chain solution. These foundational services allow QAD and its customers to extend the capabilities of QAD solutions and add new technology via applications into those solutions without resorting to customizations. Using the QAD Enterprise Platform, both QAD and its customers can react quickly to disruption and leverage it to their advantage.

“In today’s manufacturing world, adaptability is essential for companies to ride the waves of disruption,” adds Winter. “I’ve seen businesses go from dominating their industry to the threat of bankruptcy in the time it took for a new innovation to go from an idea to enter the mainstream. Manufacturers are challenged today with so much change it is hard to determine where best to innovate. I truly believe that QAD’s process for dealing with new, manufacturing-related technology and the adaptive applications it enables make QAD the only choice for manufacturers who want to thrive in a disruptive world.”

QAD Adaptive ERP headlines the QAD Adaptive Applications suite of solutions designed for global manufacturing companies. This portfolio includes a number of related software solutions including QAD Supplier Portal, QAD Cloud EDI and QAD Automation Solutions, all of which integrate seamlessly with QAD Adaptive ERP. Whether a manufacturer needs supplier relationship management, eInvoicing, EDI, trade management, supply chain planning, demand planning, transportation execution or other enterprise solutions, QAD Adaptive Applications offers a proven set of solutions purpose-built for manufacturers and the changing requirements they face.