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As medical technology companies expand into emerging markets, there is more pressure on enterprise systems to support growing operations and regional compliance requirements. Every such issue is experienced differently across business units (BUs). In a highly regulated industry like healthcare, legacy ERP systems can quickly become an obstacle to the scalability and agility that is needed for fast growth.
For a global medtech company, the limitations of its ERP stack were becoming apparent as it expanded into new markets. As the business expanded across LATAM, EEMEA, and APAC, the environment couldn’t keep pace. It was inflexible, expensive to maintain, and hard to modify as local needs changed. In an industry where compliance is a concern around every corner, this has become a burden to speed and execution.
To solve this, the company teamed up with Birlasoft to modernize its ERP foundations by deploying a standardized Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2 environment on Microsoft Azure. The main ask was to build a more consistent global operating model to support growth without adding complexity. See the engagement details below.
Key challenges
#1. Legacy ERP held back new market expansion
The client was still on legacy platforms like QAD/MFGPRO, and those systems were not built to keep up with the rate of growth in emerging markets. This environment was difficult to change, and it also created a massive maintenance burden. It was not flexible enough to support the diverse operating models and compliance requirements across countries.
#2. Non-standard processes in different markets
Business processes and data models evolved differently in LATAM, EEMEA, and APAC. This involves the complex, consistent governance of operations, the comparison of performance across regions, and the maintenance of a common way of working. Reporting also became more cumbersome, with each market developing its own process.
#3. Compliance and localization challenges in multiple regions
Each new market had its own statutory, tax, and regulatory requirements. The differences needed to be addressed, and in the current ERP environment, they created additional risk and increased pressure on regional teams already under local business demands.
#4. Sluggish order and supply chain processes
Disconnected systems and manual workarounds slowed core workflows such as order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, logistics, and surgery management. This impacted execution speed and made it more difficult to maintain visibility across the value chain.
#5. Scalability limitations for future market expansion
The ERP terrain wasn’t designed for quick country deployments. The inflexibility started to slow down deployment into new markets as expansion plans accelerated, creating friction in the broader growth agenda.
Birlasoft solution
To overcome these challenges, Birlasoft deployed a single instance Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne platform on Microsoft Azure. The rollout was phased, starting with LATAM and then moving into EEMEA. The same reusable global template is now being leveraged to fast-track deployment in APAC.
#1. Phased global transformation with reusable template
The engagement began with a global JDE transformation roadmap based on a standard configuration template. The deployment was then phased across six LATAM countries, five EEMEA markets, and seven APAC markets.
#2. Deploying JDE 9.2 single instance on Microsoft Azure
One JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.2 instance was started on Microsoft Azure. The implementation team resisted customizations and used standard JDE functionality wherever possible. It helped to simplify deployment, reduce complexity, and improve maintainability over the long haul.
#3. Global standardization, local flexibility for compliance
The global template harmonized core business processes and data structures across regions. Additions were made only where required to meet statutory, tax, or regulatory requirements. This balance of consistency and local compliance was important to drive adoption across markets.
#4. Quick deployment and smooth integration
Built on MuleSoft, third-party integrations were created to help streamline coordination across order management, procurement, logistics, and surgery workflows. Birlasoft also accelerated validation, reporting, testing, and data migration with its accelerator library.
#5. Stabilization, automation, and rollout support
The cutover was managed with a controlled stabilization plan and hypercare during the transition. Regional teams in LATAM and Europe led change management while phased data migration and over 95% test automation ensured go-lives remained steady and rollout timelines on track.
Impact
The ERP transformation gave the client a more powerful platform for growth in emerging markets. These are some of the key business benefits that we could deliver through the ERP modernization initiative:
#1. Consistent business processes across regions
A single global JDE template standardized core processes and data models across LATAM, EEMEA, and APAC. However, the template also provides for local compliance requirements where needed.
#2. Increased compliance and faster order fulfillment
Our client saw a 40% increase in order fulfillment and a 50% improvement in order compliance in key markets.
#3. Increased productivity and reduced cycle times
Order cycle time decreased by 66%. Productivity increased by as much as 60% with the automation of workflows and standardization of processes.
#4. Better visibility, easier usability, and MedTech workflow automation
The new ERP environment provided real-time visibility into the KPIs and operational metrics. ebOps-JDE orchestration also includes automated surgical management processes, resulting in a simpler user experience.
Want to modernize ERP and build a more scalable operating model? Birlasoft can help – book a call with our experts today to get started.
