Mfg Editor/Writer; 250+ video game playthroughs (twitch.tv/proa007); (youtube.com/c/proa007). Author of 15 books/53 stories on Amazon Kindle.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Chris Vavra
How to Intervene Before Shop Floor Disruption: Syspro CEO Leanne Taylor Q&A
Syspro is sharpening its AI strategy around the argument that manufacturers and distributors do not need more AI tools sitting outside the business system. They need intelligence embedded inside the workflows that run orders, inventory, production, finance, and distribution.
Interview: Nominal CMO on Why Finance AI Agents Need to Execute, Not Just Explain
At this year’s Sage Future in San Francisco, the AI conversation kept returning to the same question: How do businesses move from experimenting with AI to trusting it with real operational work? For Stephanie Montelius, CMO of Nominal, an agentic AI platform for ERP and finance teams, the answer starts with a distinction that matters for ERP teams. Chatbots can explain, summarize, and provide context, but they do not necessarily take work off the user’s plate.
Why ERP Modernization Fails After Go-Live
As ERP programs move beyond implementation, many organizations are facing a harder question: How to make modernization hold after launch. A system may be live, integrations may be running, and core transactions may be working, but the long-term value of ERP modernization depends on whether new workflows, governance structures, and operating practices become part of daily execution.
Sage-IDC Research Reveals SMB Cybersecurity Gaps in the AI Era
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) around the world are increasing cybersecurity investment at a meaningful pace, but a new global study commissioned by Sage and conducted by IDC found spending intent is outrunning execution, leaving millions of businesses exposed to threats they have acknowledged, but not yet operationalized a response to.
‘Mid-market manufacturers should avoid treating automation and ERP as separate initiatives:’ Chris Brumett
Visibility and transparency remain major challenges for companies dependent on complex supply chain and logistics. ERP systems have grown and evolved alongside them and their role has changed. However, there continue to be disconnects and problems bringing all the systems together.
Post-Acquisition Finance Integration is the Barrier to Value Creation
The modern organization has prioritized growth and diversification in the past decade. From strategic acquisitions to mergers with competitors to relying on geographically dispersed teams, the average CFO is no longer operating in a single-system environment. In 2025, global M&A activity increased to its highest volume in the past four years, with companies focusing on frequent acquisitions in tandem with megadeals.
Fixing Construction’s Margin Visibility Problem With ERP
The construction sector is facing the headwinds of economic turbulence, with factors from the rising cost of specialist materials to increases in business rates threatening margins and project timescales. Global supply chain disruptions are also reshaping how construction professionals plan projects and negotiate with subcontractors. As external pressures mount, what might appear to be small internal cracks within large construction companies are becoming harder to ignore.
Celonis Context Model, Ikigai Labs Deal Target Enterprise AI Blind Spots
Enterprise AI has a context problem. Organizations that have invested in AI agents and agentic platforms are finding that the agents underperform not because the models are inadequate but because those models lack an accurate, real-time understanding of how the business actually operates. Celonis launched the Celonis Context Model (CCM) and announced a definitive agreement to acquire AI decision intelligence firm Ikigai Labs to solve exactly that problem.
Sage Future 2026 Recap: AI Transparency and Smarter ERP Decisions
Sage Future 2026 in San Francisco delivered a consistent message throughout the sessions, keynotes and booth visits: Artificial intelligence (AI) in ERP software is no longer a capability debate. The debate is focused on trust and transparency. The organization that operationalize it with discipline will outpace companies still treating AI as a feature than something to govern.
SAP Material Certification and Batch Traceability Automation with EDI
SAP shops running ECC or S/4HANA across multi-plant manufacturing environments frequently face operational bottlenecks in material certification and batch genealogy workflows. Quality engineers and supply chain teams often spend hundreds of hours annually retrieving certification documents from fragmented repositories when responding to customer audits or regulatory compliance requests, undermining the traceability capabilities built into SAP’s batch management framework.
ArcelorMittal Sistemas Cuts SAP Infrastructure Costs 58% with SUSE Linux
ArcelorMittal Sistemas, the global IT arm of the world’s second-largest steel producer, has modernized its mission-critical SAP infrastructure by standardizing on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, achieving an 86% increase in developer productivity and a 58% reduction in operating system costs within the first year.
Sage Future 2026: Julie Adams
⇨ The article emphasizes the importance of effective communication in fostering teamwork and collaboration within organizations and how AI can improve construction projects by making ERP more agile and powerful. ⇨ It highlights the role of digital tools and platforms in enhancing remote collaboration, enabling teams to work efficiently regardless of their physical locations.
How 4flow’s AI-Native Platform Is Accelerating Supply Chain Decisions
As global supply chains face mounting pressure from geopolitical disruption, capacity volatility and demand unpredictability, 4flow is repositioning the conversation around supply chain response time with optaire by 4flow, a modular, AI-native platform built to move organizations from fragmented, reactive operations to synchronized, data-driven decision-making at the speed of supply chain reality.
Sage Future 2026: Jon Fasoli
⇨ The significance of innovation in driving business success is underscored, highlighting how companies must adapt to remain competitive. ⇨ Collaborative strategies among teams and departments are critical for fostering creativity and problem-solving in organizational contexts. ⇨ Understanding customer needs and feedback is essential for tailoring products and services, ensuring they meet market demands effectively.
Research Shows Property Tax Compliance Costs Six Figures Annually for Most Large Enterprises
Research from Avalara reveals property tax compliance has become one of the most resource-intensive and financially consequential functions inside large enterprises, yet the overwhelming majority of organizations still lack the infrastructure to manage it without penalties, interest charges or missed savings. For SAP finance and IT leaders, the data represents a concrete business case for automating and integrating property tax compliance within existing ERP systems.
CBS Earns SAP Hack2Build Runner-Up with ADDISSON AI Supply Chain Solution
cbs Corporate Business Solutions earned 1st Runner-Up at the global SAP Hack2Build for Business Data Cloud, the annual SAP partner innovation competition, with ADDISSON, an AI-powered supply chain solution designed to optimize safety stock management within SAP environments.
Rootstock Ready Cuts ERP Implementation Time, Costs for Midmarket Manufacturers
Rootstock Software has launched Rootstock Ready, a curated ERP solution and structured implementation model built to give midmarket manufacturers and distributors a faster, more predictable path to go-live on the Salesforce platform while addressing the cost overruns and scope uncertainty that have historically defined ERP projects in this segment.
Syspro Marketplace Expands ERP Reach for Manufacturers and Distributors
Syspro has launched a curated marketplace designed to help manufacturers and distributors extend the operational reach of their ERP environments without the cost and complexity of custom integration projects, giving technology executives a structured path to connect specialized capabilities directly to the Syspro platform.
Sage Agentic ERP Shifting from Passive Recording to Active Prevention
The ERP system’s fundamental role is changing. For decades, enterprise resource planning platforms have functioned as sophisticated record-keepers, capturing transactions, surfacing exceptions after the fact and waiting to be asked. Sage is arguing the next phase of ERP intelligence replaces the passive model with one that monitors operations, detects problems before they escalate and acts within defined boundaries without waiting for human instruction.
Bristlecone Targeting Acquisitions, AI Investments to Scale SAP Supply Chain
Bristlecone, one of SAP’s top channel partners and a supply chain consultancy owned by India’s Mahindra Group, is preparing its first-ever acquisitions and a major internal investment drive to expand its supply chain products and services for global Fortune 1000 companies.
SaaS ERP Market Accelerates as AI and Cloud Reshape Enterprise Operations
The global SaaS-based enterprise resource planning market is entering a period of accelerated growth, driven by the convergence of cloud adoption, artificial intelligence integration and a decisive industry shift away from on-premise infrastructure. For technology executives, the market’s trajectory is an operational reality that is reshaping procurement decisions, integration strategies and competitive positioning.
ERP Today Interview: Leanne Taylor, Syspro
⇨ Syspro is transforming ERP into a proactive decision-making infrastructure by embedding AI to validate transactions and prevent disruptions in real-time. ⇨ Syspro CEO Leanne Taylor explained how the company's focus on operational impact emphasizes the importance of industry-specific scenarios for AI deployment, which will help shape future roadmaps and use cases within ERP systems.
Sage HCM Targets Cost Gaps Bleeding Product Manufacturers Dry
Manufacturers operating on razor-thin margins have accepted the painful reality that by the time labor cost variances surface, the order has shipped, the customer has been billed and the margin is gone. Sage is positioning their Sage HCM as the platform to change that, which was described in the presentation “The Workforce Engine Behind Profitable Production: Sage HCM for Product-centric Businesses” at Sage Future 2026 in San Francisco.
Sage X3 Helping Food, Beverage Manufacturers Tackle AI and Compliance Challenges
Food and beverage manufacturers are navigating one of the most operationally complex periods in recent memory, and two Sage X3 customers say the ERP platform has become central to how their organizations manage inventory, compliance and the early stages of AI adoption.
Finance AI Trust Gap Widens as Explainability Becomes Non-Negotiable
The debate over artificial intelligence in finance has shifted. It is no longer about whether AI can perform accounting tasks. It is about whether finance leaders can trust, explain and defend the outputs their AI systems produce.
Sage Targets Agentic Future With Expanded Developer Platform
Sage is widening the lane for partner led innovation with new AI tools and commercial models on its developer platform, aimed at speeding how solutions reach Sage Intacct, Sage X3 and Sage Active customers. The update promises a more unified build experience, AI agent tooling and usage based revenue options that reshape the daily reality for product, architecture and partner teams across the Sage ecosystem.
SimpleFi Links Better Dashboards With Finance Automation Gains
SimpleFi Solutions is urging SAP finance teams to treat dashboard design and automation as two sides of the same modernization effort, arguing that cluttered visuals and manual data prep undermine the value of tools like SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Business Data Cloud. For CFOs and IT leaders, the firm’s guidance translates into concrete practices for building dashboards that drive action and for automating the workflows that feed them so teams stop living in spreadsheets.
AETC Implements Rootstock Cloud ERP to Strengthen Planning, Growth
Applied Energy Technology Corp. has gone live using Rootstock Cloud ERP by modernizing their manufacturing operations for small explosive devices used in aerospace and defense. The project offers a potential blueprint for how cloud ERP on Salesforce can strengthen planning, compliance and scalability without introducing heavy overhead. What This Means for ERP Insiders Cloud manufacturing ERP is ready for regulated sectors.
Sage Future Keynote Highlights Discipline, Transparency for AI Finance
Sage Future 2026 opened in San Francisco with a clear thesis for finance and technology leaders High performance will come from AI embedded in ERP workflows, governed transparently and paired with nonnegotiable human accountability. Across keynotes and sessions, Sage executives, AWS leadership and New York Yankees CFO Scott Krug sketched a model where finance teams use agentic AI to accelerate decisions while keeping judgment and control firmly in human hands.
Sage AI Agents Target Everyday Finance And HR Friction
Sage is moving beyond AI copilots toward task focused agents that work directly inside finance, HR and operations workflows across Sage Intacct, Sage HCM and Sage X3. The company’s latest release embeds what it calls AI agents into core systems to automate parts of payment, payroll and operational processes while maintaining auditability and human oversight.
Sage Acquires Doyen AI to Improve SMB AI Migration
Sage is betting AI can eliminate some of the most painful parts of ERP and financial system projects with the acquisition of Doyen AI, an implementation specialist that embeds AI into migration and go live workflows. For SMB technology and finance leaders, the deal points to a near future where AI helps design, configure and validate new Sage environments so teams reach steady state faster and with less disruption. What This Means for ERP Insiders AI will become standard in ERP implementations.
Infor Index Shows AI Ambition Outpacing ERP Readiness
Infor’s Enterprise AI Adoption Impact Index paints a sharp picture of organizations caught between aggressive AI ambition and operational reality. More than half of 1,000 decision makers surveyed across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France report they are unable to scale AI beyond early deployment, even as 80% say they have the internal capability to do so.
Syspro Betting On AI to Activate Manufacturing ERP’s Future
Syspro is sharpening its pitch to manufacturers and distributors by framing AI as an activation layer that turns ERP from a passive system of record into a proactive decision infrastructure embedded in daily operations. That vision centers on AI agents that run inside Syspro workflows, validate transactions in real time and help prevent disruption before it hits production, cost or delivery.
Sage Intacct Tightens Grip On Connected Finance Workflows
Sage is deepening its connected finance story with new Sage Intacct capabilities that tie planning, spend management, cash flow and industry specific workflows into a single mid market platform. The updates, unveiled ahead of Sage Future in San Francisco, are aimed at finance leaders who need faster guidance from their systems without losing control of core processes. This will be highlighted during the Sage Future Conference in San Francisco from April 28-30, which ERP Today will be covering.
Manufacturing ERP Pushes Indian Plants Toward Data-First Operations
Manufacturing ERP is moving to operational backbone for Indian factories as competitive pressures, tax complexity and Industry 4.0 programs converge. Recent analysis highlights ERP’s role in integrating production, inventory, procurement, finance and HR into a single platform that can support real time decisions, automation and compliance with regulations such as GST. What This Means for ERP Insiders Manufacturing ERP will anchor India’s Industry 4.0 push.
The Importance of Keeping Fax Communications Secure
Fax remains a legally accepted and operationally essential communication channel across healthcare, government, finance, insurance, manufacturing and logistics, yet most organizations are running it on aging infrastructure that was never designed to meet modern compliance requirements or integrate with cloud ERP environments.
SAP Launches Tool To Benchmark Transformation Readiness
SAP introduced a business transformation maturity assessment tool designed to help organizations quickly determine how prepared they are for large scale change programs and to identify the gaps that block value realization. For CIOs, transformation leaders and enterprise architects facing S/4HANA migrations and AI driven modernization, the tool offers a structured way to move conversations from vague aspirations to data backed roadmaps.
Capgemini Launches Google Cloud AI Hub For Agents
Capgemini is deepening its partnership with Google Cloud through a new Google Cloud AI Enterprise Hub designed to help large enterprises build and scale agentic AI systems anchored on Gemini Enterprise. For SAP leaders tracking SAP and Google Cloud’s push toward AI-first customer experiences, the hub represents a services layer that can turn those platform capabilities into production grade outcomes faster and with clearer accountability.
Low Code Becomes Backbone Of Scalable Automation Strategies
For SAP technology leaders, low code is shifting from side project to core strategy as enterprises look to scale automation across fragmented landscapes without sacrificing governance, performance, or developer control. Low Code That Scales Beyond the Demo Camunda’s recent commentary on the “low code automation wave” warns that many tools work well in demos but fail when real‑world complexity and volume hit, leaving IT to support opaque, tightly coupled automations.
SAP, Google Cloud Target AI-First Customer Experiences
SAP is deepening its partnership with Google Cloud to build what both companies describe as the next generation of AI powered customer experience, combining SAP data and processes with Google Cloud’s Gemini models and infrastructure. For technology leaders, the collaboration signals a shift from isolated CX pilots toward integrated, agent driven experiences that span marketing, sales and service on top of trusted ERP data.
Sage HCM Aims To Close HR Finance Data Gaps
Sage is making a direct play for the mid market HCM space with Sage HCM, a new cloud solution that connects HR, payroll and workforce data to Sage Intacct financials and launches with construction specific capabilities and an AI powered HCM Agent. For HR, payroll and finance leaders, the release promises a single view of workforce costs, improved payroll accuracy and more automated workflows in domains that still rely heavily on spreadsheets and disconnected systems.
AI Tightens Integration Across SAP S/4HANA Landscape
SAP’s Q1 2026 Business AI release pushes Joule and AI assistants deeper into SAP S/4HANA, with capabilities that explain errors, streamline returns and help teams manage complex integration landscapes. For CIOs and enterprise architects racing toward 2027, these enhancements show how AI and integration strategy are converging inside the core ERP rather than at the edges.
Red Hat Positions Agentic AI As Enterprise Automation Engine
Red Hat is expanding its automation strategy with agentic AI, combining Red Hat AI, OpenShift AI and Ansible Automation Platform to help enterprises move from scripted playbooks to autonomous IT workflows with strong guardrails. For CIOs and operations leaders, this shift promises faster incident response, safer change execution and a more scalable approach to AI that fits hybrid cloud realities.
IFS Starts 2026 Strong As Industrial AI Embeds In Ops
IFS opened 2026 with another quarter of double-digit growth, reporting 25% YoY expansion in annual recurring revenue and 24% growth in cloud revenue for the first quarter. Recurring revenue now accounts for 84% of the total, underlining how the company’s industrial AI platform is becoming embedded in long term customer operations rather than one off projects. What This Means for ERP Insiders Industrial AI platforms sits beside ERP cores.
AI Tightens SAP Supply Chain, MRO Integration
SAP’s Q1 2026 Business AI release emphasizes integration across supply chain and MRO planning by embedding explainable AI assistants directly into SAP Integrated Business Planning and connected execution workflows. For operations and IT leaders, this means less time decoding complex models and more time using integrated insights to prevent shortages, cut inventory costs and harden systems against disruption.
AirTrunk’s Lumina Deal Raises Stakes For APAC Cloud ERP
AirTrunk is accelerating into India’s hyperscale data center market with the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra, gaining a 600MW development pipeline worth up to $5 billion in future capacity. For CIOs and enterprise architects, the move signals a wave of high density, AI-ready infrastructure in India that will influence where and how ERP and software-as-a-service (SaaS) workloads are deployed. What This Means for ERP Insiders Hyperscale India will reshape ERP hosting strategies.
Infor’s April Update Sharpens CloudSuite WFM for Frontline Reality
Infor’s April 2026 Cumulative Update is targeted toward CloudSuite Workforce Management customers, with a slate of improvements in multi-view scheduler and time and attendance aimed at reducing everyday friction for schedulers, supervisors and frontline managers. For technology and operations leaders, the release offers tangible UX and workflow upgrades rather than just back end tweaks, which should translate quickly into productivity gains on the floor.
Sage And PwC Turn Agentic AI On Intacct Rollouts
Sage and PwC are bringing agentic AI into the heart of Sage Intacct delivery with an implementation model designed to get finance teams live faster and with more consistent outcomes. The collaboration applies AI agents to key stages of design, configuration and testing so onboarding becomes a repeatable, governed process rather than a one off project defined by spreadsheets and manual checklists.
Sage Intacct Advisory Puts AI To Work For CAS
Sage is sharpening its play for client accounting services with AI-powered capabilities in Sage Intacct Advisory, designed to help partner firms deliver more consistent advisory support without adding headcount. For accounting and finance leaders, the upgrade turns Intacct from a general ledger and reporting workhorse into a service delivery platform that standardizes how advisory work gets done across clients.
Fujitsu GLOVIA One Targets AI Era Of Japanese ERP
Fujitsu is repositioning its long running GLOVIA ERP line with GLOVIA One, a cloud-based suite designed for mid sized Japanese companies that need AI ready core systems tuned to local business practices and regulations. For technology executives, the launch signals a push toward composable, API-driven ERP that embeds AI agents to support decision making without discarding decades of domain knowledge. What This Means for ERP Insiders Japan-specific ERP will anchor AI adoption.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Chris
Contact Chris, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack