SYSPRO. The company is a multi-award winning global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software provider specialising in key manufacturing and distribution industries.

Having started in 1978, the company team of specialists have for decades "continued to address unique industry needs and enable customers to easily adapt and grow" with a scalable solution that can be deployed in the cloud, on-premise, or both, and accessed via the web on any device to provide its customers with choice and flexibility.

Naturally, SYSPRO says it remains focused on the success of partners and customers, with evolving solutions that are "aligned with industry trends to leverage emerging technology that will enable partners and customers in securing a digital future."

The company also has a channel partner program dubbed "PartnerUP," featuring more that 15,000 licensed companies in over 60 countries, and has customers in 62 countries with a 98% retention rate.

Late last month, SYSPRO launched its new, detailed, 31-page PDF report titled: "Reigning in Industry 4.0 - How agile manufacturing CFOs strive in the age of adaptation," which reveals that the manufacturing CFO will play a critical strategic, innovative and financial role in the business moving forward.

The study, which was conducted in July to September 2021 and led by SYSPRO, assessed the sentiment amongst senior level Chief Financial Officers within manufacturing sectors across the Americas, APAC and EMEA.

The participants encompassed financial leaders across both SMEs and larger enterprises, indicating that these results reflect the insights of a wide range of players in the Manufacturing and Distribution space.

The study also revealed that the disruptions caused by the pandemic played a catalytic role in the diversification of manufacturing businesses. In order to thrive, 65% of CFO respondents surveyed indicated that they have shifted expenditure into new markets, product lines and technologies.

In addition, additional headline stats saw 33% of businesses expanded into new markets, 29% of businesses innovated through the introduction of a new production line, and 39% of businesses will explore new routes to markets such as eCommerce channels, while 29% of CFOs indicated that they would invest further into R&D in order to enable the diversification of business models.

The report also covers building and securing a digital future, winning the war for talent, proactively managing business risks and much more detail in the report which you can freely download here.

So, to learn more about the report, about SYSPRO, and the Industry 4.0 and CFO 4.0 revolutions, we spoke with Sanjay Galal, CFO at SYSPRO, with that video interview embedded immediately below, after which is a summary of the topics we spoke about - please watch and read on!

• I started by introducing Sanjay and welcoming him, after which I asked what SYSPRO started offering in 1978, and what it is offering today to the global market, just a few short weeks away from 2022.
  
  
• When then moved onto the definition of "Industry 4.0" and it means for businesses wishing to unleash this power.
  
  
• Given the concept of CFO 4.0 as well, we discussed how all of this helps the CFOs of manufacturers, with manufacturing of products to meet endless global demand such a fundamentally important part of modern life.
  
  
• Next we look at how easy it is for manufacturers to diversify their products, offerings and services to take full advantage of the recovery, given the expensive nature of building factories today.
  
  
• We covered how investments in advanced technologies have kept Australian manufacturing and distribution businesses on course in the past two, and some examples of this, along with other global customers worth highlighting.
  
  
• After this we look at manufacturing CFOs are taking on the dual roles of financial decision-maker and business navigator, as well as supply chain headaches, given the procurement of raw materials and inventory remains the leading business disruptor for this sector.
  
  
• We also looked at the urgent need to re-skilling staff, as well as anything else Sanjay wanted to tell us about SYSPRO.
  
  
• Next, Sanjay shared memories of his first computer, and a bit about his own history in the world of tech, followed by Sanjay's views on how SYSPRO might evolve over the next couple of years, and what the industry might look like in the 2030s.
  
  
• My second last question is to ask Sanjay the best piece of advice has received in life to help him get where he is today, finishing with his final message to iTWire viewers and readers, and to SYSPRO's current and future customers and partners.

So, please watch the video interview with Sanjay Galal, CFO and CRO at SYSPRO to learn more, while the fresh, new Industry 4.0 report can be downloaded here.