SAP Industry Cloud Innovation Value Stories with Bearing Point

ETM – that stands for equipment and tools management – has been a part of the SAP portfolio for quite some time. BearingPoint has now harnessed the power of SAP’s Industry Cloud to take ETM to new heights. 

ETM.next is aptly named. This is a next-generation approach to ETM, one that includes a collaboration platform, comprehensive planning and compliance functionality, a picture-guided web shop, native-mobile apps for IoS and Android, open interfaces with the proprietary ETM platforms of major OEMs, and an ability to push data to SAP Analytics Cloud, among other features.  

The solution streamlines end-to-end processes for asset lifecycle management as well as internal and external rentals while integrating seamlessly with the SAP Business Technology Platform. Companies in the construction, industrial-service, oil-and-gas, mining, utilities, natural-resources, logistics, and transportation industries can use it to smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively manage machines, equipment, tools, consumables, personnel and other resources. 

Marcus Tapp, a BearingPoint senior manager, describes ETM.next as a platform that helps companies deploy their equipment fleets at lower cost and with fewer headaches. 

“It puts the right piece of equipment, at the right time, at the right spot, at the best possible cost available, and it avoids idle time,” Tapp says. 

Add to all that the inherent advantages of Industry Cloud implementation – low-code/no-code customization, faster time to value, scalability, and a continuously enhanced solution – and it’s no surprise that SAP recently bestowed ETM.next with SAP Endorsed status.  

Tapp says ETM.next was developed in concert with “several industry-leading companies” that provided use cases and conveyed desires for product features. That input paid dividends, he says. 

“We now have a solution built by the industry, for the industry,” Tapp says. 

A common refrain among industry collaborators during design and development was the desire not only to automate manual processes and enhance efficiency on the tactical level, but also to create a common platform capable of strategically integrating with suppliers, customers, joint venture partners, and others, Tapp says. 

Also, he says, many companies were looking to harness IoT, telematics, and mobile in their ETM efforts. Their suggestions bore fruit: One can track critical assets by geolocation and geofencing and display them on integrated Google Maps. Costing and invoicing can be based not only on time, but also on predetermined performance metrics. ETM.next’s intuitive user interface extends to the mobile devices of everyone from senior managers to line staff out in the field. 

“We can deliver real IoT use cases for our customers,” Tapp says. 

Bigger picture, BearingPoint designed ETM.next to address the fractured IT landscape many companies face, having added narrow solutions dealing with specific aspects of ETM over the years. 

“This is a single solution for the entire, end-to-end process, one that’s well-integrated into the core ERP system,” Tapp says. “This can increase the productivity of individual projects as well as a company’s overall productivity by harmonizing process flows and boosting administrative efficiency.” 

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