Can you give us a brief background about your role in the organization you are working for?
Allnex is a global chemical player, and I am in charge of its international IT department. My department is responsible for streamlining its operation. At our Belgium plant, we currently have a staff of roughly 100 professionals who support the business with IT products.
Our primary efforts focus on streamlining corporate operations, commercial procedures, and supply chain processes. To do it effectively, we use various tools available on the market, such as SAP's ERP system, which is a significant player in the chemical industry. We also use different Microsoft products, such as the Office of the Workplace and data platforms.
What are some of the prevailing trends and challenges in the IT industry today?
The significance of data in the business world is growing rapidly. In the past, the main focus in the industry was on ERP systems to support manufacturing, supply chain, and financial processes. However, the current trend is towards integrating the data produced to effectively automate operations and create valuable data assets enabling new services. This shift toward the importance of data is a notable trend in the industry.
The rise of cloud technology is another key trend. Previously, a business's most important IT asset was a mainframe or a worldwide data center running ERP. Now, there is a need for platforms that can handle all the necessary data capabilities to support the growing importance of data in business operations. The cloud infrastructure has been updated to incorporate these advancements in data technology.
In the rapidly changing market, it's essential to be flexible and responsive to new requirements, changing circumstances, and unpredictable situations, especially in today's uncertain world. Organizations must be agile and able to adapt quickly on both the business and technological fronts.
Cloud technology management requires new skills and expertise in the IT industry. A suitable platform must be in place, and the right talent must be hired to build it, with a secure environment designed around it. Reevaluating business practices is necessary, and having the right people to help maximize the value of data is critical.
What are some of the technologies or practices that help you streamline IT strategies and processes?
The most recent technology we are implementing involves cloud computing and data integration. We're leveraging API management tools and technology to ensure we can arrange our data in a cloud environment. We need to store our data in a format that makes sense for the business, and developing that platform necessitates discovering new technologies.
On the security side, we're looking at improving our security. We examine technologies such as data capturing and storage connected to the integration of operations technology, which drives us to investigate safety around edge computing.
The main topics discussed today are setting up cloud environments and data storage using tools like Microsoft Azure and integrating those data streams with Oracle Applications, SAP ERP, CRM, and our other operational applications.
What would be your piece of advice for budding professionals in the field?
It is critical in the chemical sector to develop capabilities in the company that are directly related to converting commercial objectives to technological needs. It is more important to have workers who can convert business needs into technical requirements and can handle markets than it is to develop highly specialized technology abilities. We are technology consumers rather than producers.
In a chemical company, we need people who have a deep interest in and understanding of the business and are good at understanding how this technology can help their business. In an organization like ours, people need to understand technological trends. It's crucial to consider it from a business viewpoint since people need to establish a clear understanding of the architecture of the data, relate it to the systems that support it, and demonstrate how to manage it. Main concepts researched, key objects identified, and concepts organized to ensure that the data is provisioned consistently. For this, technology needs to be a significant part of the business.
