At this year’s Implema Inspire, Torbjörn Bäck, President of Camfil Northern Europe, and Viktor Lundqvist, Business Area Manager of Dynamics at Implema, shared insights and lessons from Camfil’s digital transformation journey with a group-wide Microsoft Dynamics 365 business system in the cloud during an interview with moderator Sabinije van Gaffke.
Earlier, we talked about success factors, drive, and passion. As an introduction – what is your passion, Torbjörn?
It’s probably to develop and to evolve. To make better business with our customers, to gain more benefits, and to drive change forward so that we feel it energizes the organization and makes a difference.
Group-wide Business System for Digitalization
Can you tell us a bit more about the background to Camfil’s decision to change business systems?
If we go back three years, we set a new strategy for Camfil. We asked ourselves where we want to be in three to five years? We saw that one of the important parts was to have a stable platform to stand on. This applied to the organization as well as systems and processes. We had an old and patched-up business system with many hundreds of different local gaps. Looking out in Europe, we had many different systems. They were from the same company but with many different variants.
Against that strategy, we set a number of business goals we wanted to achieve. From very concrete things like being able to immediately answer the question: is the product available and at what price, to automatic stock replenishment between different countries. We also saw a need to, for example, connect new partners in days instead of weeks.
Camfil saw that they really needed to do something both from a customer perspective and for internal processes. The current system was outdated and could not be built upon, and surrounding systems were also outdated. A decision was made to implement a new business system.
Advantages of Cloud-Based Business Systems
You have chosen a cloud-based business system for the entire group. What advantages and challenges have you experienced with the cloud-based solution?
That was something we had to evaluate, says Torbjörn Bäck. When we moved forward with Microsoft, since we were already on that platform, we asked ourselves – what does a cloud solution mean for us?
According to Torbjörn Bäck, there were mainly three areas they looked at closely: security, flexibility, and connectivity.
Security and safety
We saw that the security solution that could be offered to us if we were to run these servers ourselves, or together with a partner, would be quite costly and complicated.
Flexibility
We wanted a flexible solution where we can easily roll out to multiple sites and people, increase storage capacity, and add new features. This is very easy with a cloud solution.
Connectivity
With a cloud solution, we also see the possibilities to add other systems in the cloud with new partners to further develop the business.
Roll out Group-Wide Business System
What insights, lessons, and challenges do you at Implema want to share?
With an organization like Camfil, a large international company with operations in many countries, it becomes challenging to bring all requirements together into a common solution, says Victor Lundqvist. Balancing the common platform against the project that you initially drive when you start rolling out to a country. That balance is the big challenge, I would say. The initial project should eventually cover a large international group.
I agree with that, continues Bäck. We started with Europe with Sweden as a pilot project. Already in the Swedish project, we involved employees from all over Europe so that we wouldn’t create a solution that only suited Sweden. The solution made in the pilot project should be able to roll out in several countries.
Advantages of Upgrading Cloud Solutions
The cloud-based solution you implemented with Dynamics 365 comes with eight upgrades per year compared to previously – one upgrade every eight years. Has this been a significant advantage?
Avoid Large Migrations
It’s both an advantage and a challenge. The advantage is that you avoid large migrations later that you might postpone because it’s convenient at the time.
Bäck compares it to running on a treadmill.
You are forced to keep a pace and you can’t jump off, which is good – it pushes you forward.
It also places demands on the organization in terms of more continuous testing. We are looking at how we can automate or industrialize the testing of these launches. That’s the next step for us.
With a Cloud Solution, Always on the Latest Version
How do you at Implema think when moving from one upgrade every eight years to eight upgrades per year?
This is really cool and the big strength of the cloud, I think, says Viktor Lundqvist. Those who enter this will never need to run a large implementation project again because they are always on the latest versions. That’s the big strength.
Another advantage is that you don’t have to run it yourself when it’s in the cloud. As Torbjörn says, you can liken it to running on a treadmill.
At Implema, we also do things to help our customers. It’s about making it as smooth as possible by automating the process to stay on the latest versions all the time.
Challenges and Opportunities in Digitalization
Looking beyond the implementation of the business system, what other challenges and opportunities do you see with this digitalization journey?
Third-party Apps
When you do such a business system project, it affects many surrounding systems. Already in this project, we are replacing a number of surrounding systems that are close, says Torbjörn Bäck. We have added a number of powerful applications from third-party providers that connect to the business system immediately. This gives us more business benefits.
Next-generation E-Commerce
The new platform enables us to start building the next generation of e-commerce already. When we have gone live with the entire Swedish organization, we will also do a pilot with the new e-commerce system.
Platform for Digitalization: AI, IoT, Sensors
The new business system will enable continued digitalization. We see opportunities to use AI in various parts of the process, both internally and towards customers. There are also many other exciting development areas, such as sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT), which we also see as the next step. We need to have a stable base to build on first.
Tips and Insights on Business System Change
Can you share some tips or insights on what to consider or what not to do?
See the Whole Picture beyond the Core System
It’s important to understand early in the project that this is much more than just a business system change, says Bäck. You need to look at how this affects other parts and how you mobilize the organization to also change things outside the core system.
Clear Vision and Standard for the Entire Group
You must have a clear vision. At Camfil, we want a system for Europe without a lot of different customizations. This must be an important parameter when we make decisions about what exceptions could be made and how we should build the system.
Project Organization with Key Resources
We are not a very large organization, even though we are many thousands globally, in the Swedish organization we have a few key people who must be involved. Finding a good project organization and looking at how to free up the internal resources that should be part of the project is an important part.
Find the Right External Partners
How do you find external partners with whom you can have a good dialogue? The first contract you set may not be where you end up in the end. You need an external partner with whom you can have a good dialogue where both parties understand how to adapt and change along the way.
Operations Organization after Go-Live
Looking at what to do after going live. We started early looking at operations organizations and how it should look.
Utilize the Opportunities in Modern Business Systems
Modern business systems have so many opportunities to support processes. Make sure to take advantage of that and be open to working in a new way so you avoid many of the risks in projects, costs in the long run with customizations, and so on. That’s my tip, says Lundqvist.
More Digitalization
Camfil is a family business. If we look five years ahead, what is the vision five years forward?
We continue to be a leading company in air filters and air purification equipment, and we are expanding in all our markets, predicts Torbjörn Bäck. We are even more relevant today and moving forward with the pandemic we are going through. How do we ensure clean premises, how can we remove pollutants and viruses earlier? We continue on the path we have set, expanding in our markets with more products, and it will also include a greater share of digitalization.
