What keeps Chemical Executives up at Night?

Globalization and expansion into new markets, operational excellence, product innovation as well as the need to strategically manage knowledge and talent are all trends which are there to stay in the Chemical Industry. Executives need to find answers in response to these trends and they more and more look at IT departments for implementing strategies and architectures as critical enablers for innovative and sustainable business models and processes.

Here are a few of the questions keeping them up at night:

Globalization and expansion into new markets

– How can I consolidate my fragmented global ERP landscapes

– How can I quickly set up new plants, legal entities or establish JV

– How can I protect my intellectual property when tapping into new markets or regions

Achieving better visibility to Drive Operational Excellence

– How can I leverage the massive amounts of data in the plant, i.e.(from production, quality, safety, maintenance, reliability, projects, etc. in a systematic ways to drive differentiating changes

– How can I equip plant personnel with the right information in real time at their point of need

Driving Product Innovation and Integrity

– How can I better understand the impact of changing regulations on the product portfolio, and systematically managing global product (compliance) risks allowing global growth of Product Portfolio with confidence

Managing Knowledge and Talent

– How can I prevent my workforce from aging and minimize “brain drain” as many retire

– How can I better understand generational dynamics and HCM “hot spots”

– How can I execute effective recruitment and retention

These and other hot topics will be discussed Sept 24-26 in Heidelberg at our Chemical Executive Advisory Council (CEAC)  with C-Level IT Executives from the top global chemical companies. We look forward to lots of open and challenging discussions and just maybe, we can help some executives sleep a little more peacefully.  Look for more posts during and after this event and feel free to join the discussion here online.