CASE STUDY demonstrated the ability to provide standard process that we could adopt .
How does Infor allow you to fulfil your key business drivers , sustainability and innovation ?
Infor has a key partnership with AWS and as a result of that , we automatically get native functionality that exists in the AWS suite which we can use within our ERP environment . A good example of this would be the Alexa voice control , so there ’ s plans to use that functionality within our ERP which will hopefully break down barriers for people with physical disabilities or experience challenges in other areas – they may not have been able to gain a role in data import . So using that kind of functionality is really key for us as well as being able to tap into that R & D blueprint that Infor has with AWS .
How do you ensure continued innovation and how does this factor into the company ’ s strategic vision ?
What ’ s important for us is not just to implement cool technology , but to also deliver on our business objectives and that ’ s our starting point . It ’ s great for me because Britishvolt has very clear strategic targets we can aim towards . We know what we need for a set horizon business plan and then we can plan where we go from there – so maybe a more utopian vision in a couple of years ’ time . So it ’ s really listening to our business and what the drivers are , what the challenges are and making sure we adopt the technology that ’ s both appropriate and provides value at the end .
Can you tell us about your wider digital platform strategy and how it ’ s supporting your business plans while allowing you to stand out from the crowd ?
What ’ s crucial for us is being a digital business . Yes , we design and will be manufacturing the high-performing green batteries for the automotive industry initially in the UK , but critically there ’ s a couple of reasons why our applications and our data layer must be able to support our digital strategy . One reason is de-risking , especially now with the current global situation . There ’ s a lot of nervousness in the world , particularly for those wanting to invest in organisations so understandably , investors and shareholders want to make sure that we can do what we say we ’ re going to do and a great way of doing that is by digital simulation and then ultimately creating a Digital Twin of our products and our process . This way , we can actually demonstrate that what we ’ re actually planning will actually work and will provide the results we ’ re planning to deliver . We ’ re doing that in partnership with the likes of Siemens by using digital simulation tools right across manufacturing , right across the operation all the way from R & D product development . So that ’ s de-risking , and then it ’ s de-risking the actual operation – it ’ s making it the leanest , most efficient operation that we can . So we can use the same technology stack and the same innovation all the way from building our facility to actually running the facility .
More generally , what are your thoughts on the changing role of the CIO – has this impacted your approach / management style ?
I ’ ve been saying for some time now that the CIO is really well placed to influence the direction of any organisation and there has never been a better time now for CIOs , head of IT , whatever the job title , but if you ’ re running and heading up a technology function to be able to get into the DNA of your business and not just be a service provider , but be a real enabler is absolutely key . A good example of that would be , an ESG agenda . Every organisation has ESG on their corporate agenda , however , no company would be able to deliver the ESG agenda without a really strong digital presence within the organisation . So my rule is for CIOs , when we ’ re talking to our board or senior people , we only talk about three things : revenue , cost and risk because that ’ s really all the board of directors are interested in . If you go in talking about the actual technology , that may interest some people but really , we need to be talking about what that technology actually brings to the organisation in terms of value .
What are your plans for the future – how do you intend to continue meeting your business / IT objectives ?
Once we have established ourselves as the primary UK battery manufacturer , we have ambitions across the border . We ’ ve already acquired a company in Europe in Germany , we ’ re in the advanced stages of building a gigaplant in Quebec , Canada . We ’ re looking at global presence . So really , from an IT perspective , it ’ s really important that anything we ’ re architecting now is able to be flexible enough to support that global presence of Britishvolt ; making British a global brand . p
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