In the past 1-2 years, the term Industry 4.0 has been widely used to indicate the trend in automation and data exchange into the production management as well as business operation. It includes real-virtual cyber systems, Internet of Things and cloud computing, and data analysis (BI) systems. However, how to apply it depends on the financial situation, the willingness of the internal team, the transparency of policies or processes, especially when an enterprise applies an enterprise management systems such as ERP or Human Resource Management (HRM), Payroll Management.

Some important points that an enterprise should carefully consider before choosing to deploy a system or use an enterprise management system are as follows:

1. Identify the needs or requirements of your business.

This is very important, you should not try to follow the trend of “Industry 4.0” but should determine the actual needs and current situation of your business. You should focus on the following three goals for implementing a management system:

– Centralized data management and security

– Reduce paperwork and unnecessary manual steps

– Transparent policies

Appropriate budgeting

You should plan and prepare budget for each step and stage; do not try to apply it once.

2. Select a suitable supplier in the market, based on factors such as:

– Experience

– The ability of the system platform and their future development plan

– Good deployment and post-deployment services

3. Appoint an internal project team.

You need to choose the members of your business who are qualified to collaborate and track the project from start to finish. Having a supervisor from the board of directors throughout the project is also important.

For a startup or small company; in addition to the steps above, you should also explore solutions that focus more on small businesses. These solutions are usually cloud solutions such as: cloud payroll, cloud HR, cloud accounting, cloud CRM …. These solutions don’t require big budgets and are suitable for a start-up or SME.

In general, an enterprise should achieve digital transformation step by step with realistic targets; not just start by saying “I want Industry 4.0”.