BUSINESS

Opportunity

for Digital

Transformation:

Petr Doležal

New Technologies

Help Companies

Reduce the Impact

of the Pandemic

The Moravian-Silesian Region has a great industrial history whose current development proves that

local businesses are very efficient in the adaptation of new trends in technologies. As there has been

a fast implementation of automation and robotization in production before, the enterprise in the

region is currently well-prepared for digitization. The COVID pandemic came with a shock, yet it may

allow fearless businesses to get a head start over their competitors.

Marek Škuta

Senior Key Account Manager, S&T CZ

An IT graduate from VŠB–Technical

University of Ostrava, born in Ostrava. He

has worked in IT for over 25 years, and

was a programmer and consultant, project

and service manager until he found his

job in sales. At S&T CZ, he draws upon

his vast experience and understanding of

companies in the Moravian-Silesian Region,

which he helps to make the best use of

digitization tools.

Why should local businesses never cease in

digitization despite the coming recession?

The pandemic has slowed down general

progress only partially. The trend of

digitization, however, keeps accelerating

worldwide. Great number of companies

have grasped their opportunity to win some

advantage, or discovered that digitization is

the only way to maintain their income. We

still hold our position amongst the leading

innovators in Europe right after Germany.

However, compared to the USA or China,

we are a way behind. Slowing down progress

may seriously hurt Czech industries.

Companies might lose their foreign

investments and their competitiveness too.

We must not let that happen.

Can you give us an example of the

digitization of a particular process?

Many companies, for example, still

quite depend on manually-entered data.

32 ǀ POSITIV 3/2020

If a shopfloor assistant enters the

production operations data into the

system only at the end of the shift,

the data are significantly delayed.

Such system is very dated in situations

which require an immediate response.

The digitization of such a process will

allow much faster decisions with more

accurate data. The company is also

able to improve calculation of product

profitability, optimize the stock, and tune

up the usage of machinery (OEE). Instead

of economizing the innovations, the

enterprise may then truly economize their

operation where it makes sense.

can speed up the data input to the system

to mere seconds, improve measurement

of efficiency and bottlenecks. Digitization

tunes up the warehousing and dispatching

processes, which streamlines work

organization, fastens response and helps

to optimize stocks. Employees of the

back office appreciate digitized invoices,

contracts and other documents. Those

now become available on business trips

or from home. Approving is possible

from anywhere via smartphone or web

app, even an accountant can now work

with his files remotely. The journey of an

invoice until its payment could be thus

made up to three times faster.

Petr Doležal

CEO of SAP Division, S&T CZ

Working at the company since 2000, he

gained experience as consultant, solution

architect and project manager. Focused

on SAP technologies for over 25 years,

he currently leads a team of consultants

from Brno, helping to design complex

architectural solutions and improve

processes from production to logistics

and finance.

What do you recommend to those who

still hesitate to digitize?

The times are changing quickly. Those

who were quite behind may soon become

leaders. And vice versa. Especially the

recent months have shown us growing

difference between companies who at

least started digitization and are able

to adapt dynamically, and those who

focused on other things. Do not wonder

whether you should innovate: rather

consider where to start with innovation.

Your investment does not necessarily

need to be big. We are here to consult

suitable solutions for your enterprise.

Get in touch at marek.skuta@sntcz.cz or

petr.dolezal@sntcz.cz.

How can S&T CZ help companies in our

region in their development in these

difficult times?

We can help reduce their dependence

on the availability and quality of staff.

Automated production data collection