NOW and the Turkish Market
Interview with Elisa Graziola (Marketing – Datatex Italy)
Tekstil Teknoloji magazine interviewed Elisa Graziola, Marketing specialist at Datatex for the December issue. Elisa told our magazine about the features of NOW (Network Oriented World), a specific management software for the textile industry, suitable for the entire production process, from the processing of raw materials to the distribution of the finished product, the office they recently opened in Istanbul and their new projects.
Elisa started her speech by giving information about Datatex foundation story, “Our founders Maurizio Desio and Sacha Hagin met back in ‘86 at a mutual customer. Desio was designing the client’s new computer system and Hagin was a management consultant. A few months later, sitting in a café on the shore of Lake Lugano, the two partners signed commitment to create a jont company: Datatex.”
Elisa, Could you give information about your services and their features?
Our service consists of developing and offering NOW, a specific management software for the textile industry, suitable for the entire production process, from the processing of raw materials to the distribution of the finished product. NOW is a new family of software products with innovative functions and modules, designed to help small, midsize, and large enterprises to better use technology and the Internet to drive productivity gains. With global supply chains, the textiles, apparel, floor coverings, and rolled goods markets are demanding greater variety in new product introductions and faster deliveries – all while lowering unit costs. NOW offers proven solutions that meet the needs of this segment that are easily installed in any environment.
NOW is built with Object-Oriented technology to offer web-based solutions for sales, planning and production, costing, inventory management, and purchasing. Integration and visibility provide clear advantages. NOW constantly plans and monitors each step of the production process, gathering and analyzing information, and NOW can follow every job from order entry to delivery and invoice.
The NOW solution is planned to assist textile businesses and to give the insights needed to make the best business decisions. This translates to competitive advantages, agility and the ability to quickly enter new and emerging markets. For business executives in the textile specialized market segments, NOW offers the adaptability of a flexible configuration and easy integration to other business and IT environments. Furthermore, there are costs reduction benefits of an adaptable packaged solution vs. a custom designed, home-grown set of programs. The total cost of ownership is much less than in-house solutions and of ERP’s not designed for the textile.
Could you tell us about your special software package called NOW (Network Oriented World)? What makes this software special?
What makes our NOW software special is that it is designed specifically for the textile industry and is therefore specifically for companies facing all the challenges of this sector. Today, there are also several issues such as traceability that are essential for the textile industry and it’s something NOW already deals with. NOW can enable complete traceability of the textile supply chain. Datatex NOW ERP is also characterized by great flexibility, able to adapt to every aspect of the textile business processes. The modular approach allows the use of the system both by completely vertical companies and by specialized companies. Today, there are also several issues such as traceability that are essential for the textile industry and it’s something NOW already deals with. NOW can enable complete traceability of the textile supply chain. This means that every stage of production can be monitored, from the cultivation of raw materials to the manufacture and distribution of finished products. This transparency helps to ensure that products are produced in a sustainable and ethical manner. Datatex NOW ERP is also characterized by great flexibility, able to adapt to every aspect of the textile business processes. The modular approach allows the use of the system both by completely vertical companies and by specialized companies. This implementation mode leaves the customer the freedom to start with the modules they need and then integrate new ones as the company grow. With Datatex you get a dedicated platform with functions that have been developed and grown as a result of feedback from people in the industry that use the software to run their business. Every significant step in the textile and apparel supply chain is fully catered for in a Datatex solution.
What are your thoughts about the Turkish market?
The Turkish textile market is known for its growing fashion industry, with many companies that stand out in the international market for innovative design and production of fashionable clothing. Turkey also occupies a strategic geographical position between Europe and Asia, which facilitates international trade. This location has helped make the country an important hub for the textile industry.
Datatex now has a global presence with offices in Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, USA, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, Serbia and Germany. This helps us to be up and working all over the world. Currently, we have opened a new office in İstanbul, Datatex Yazılım Ltd. Şti. and here is more than a partner. We have always had a long-standing partner, Kota, with whom we recently decided to join forces for this new office. We therefore continue our strategy of growth in the Turkish market by offering our full range of products, services and cloud, benefiting from the valuable collaboration of Kota’s founding partners and their in-depth knowledge of the local market. This investment will benefit our customers and allow us to have a more direct understanding of their expectations, while bringing to market the best practices established in the international landscape of the 5 continents where we operate.
As Datatex, you aim to be the best technological partner for the textile and apparel industry by increasing the productivity and efficiency of your customers. What are your efforts for this?
As Datatex, our primary goal is to be the best technology partner for the textile and apparel industry, and we work tirelessly to improve our customers’ productivity and efficiency. To achieve our goal, we are focusing our efforts in several ways. We constantly invest in R&D to create state-of-the-art software solutions. This allows us to offer increasingly advanced tools that meet the specific challenges of the textile and apparel industry. We understand that each company has unique needs, so we customise our solutions to suit the specific requirements of each customer. This flexibility allows us to maximise the value we offer. Our platform is designed to be highly integrable with our customers’ existing systems. This facilitates a smooth transition and optimal use of our solutions. We offer in-depth training and ongoing support to ensure that our customers are able to take full advantage of our solutions. This includes assistance in managing transition processes and staff training. We constantly monitor the performance of our products and listen to customer feedback to make constant improvements. We want to be an evolving partner to meet the changing needs of the industry. We recognise the importance of sustainability in the textile industry and are committed to developing solutions that enable our custom to reduce the environmental impact of their production processes.
Fundamental to the excellence of Datatex software solution is a rigorous approach to design and implementation at each customer installation. The process begins with careful analysis of the customer’s organizational structure. For customers who want to use the adoption of a new ERP system as an opportunity to transform their business or optimize certain processes, Datatex works with specialized consultants and other partners.
As business expands and new IT technology becomes available, Datatex software solution grows with the customer, smoothly and reliably. Once the analysis is complete and the functional specification has been drawn up, installation begins. Depending on the customer’s IT resources, the project management approach may range from turnkey software solutions, with minimal involvement of customer personnel, to installations carried out largely in-house under the guidance of Datatex technical staff and partners.
We are proud of our commitment to helping our customers achieve higher levels of productivity and efficiency, and we will continue to work tirelessly to remain the best technology partner in the textile and apparel industry.
Are your new projects and software packages on the agenda? What will be your innovations?
One topic we will certainly focus on in the future is sustainability. The topic of sustainability is of great importance in the textile industry today, as companies and consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental and social impact of textile production. It is therefore crucial for us to introduce various innovations to improve sustainability in the industry. The integration of emerging technologies such as the ‘digital passport’ and blockchain can lead to significant improvements. The Digital Passport for Textile Products will contain critical information such as origin, production process, fabric composition and more. Use of IoT technologies and sensors to collect real-time data during the production process, allowing the ‘digital passport’ to be automatically updated at each stage of the product life cycle.
The use of blockchain will allow each stage of production, from raw material collection to shipping, to be recorded immutably. This will ensure greater transparency and authenticity of information for consumers, allowing them to verify the authenticity and sustainability of products.
Our goal for the near future is to directly integrate the ‘digital passport’ and blockchain data with NOW. Every step in the supply chain will be automatically recorded in the ERP via the blockchain, creating an accurate and unbreakable record of activities.
What do you think about digitalization and artificial intelligence transformation processes?
Digitalisation and transformation through artificial intelligence are revolutionising the textile industry, and I see these trends as a great opportunity to further improve our business processes. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities to improve our processes and strengthen the competitiveness of the textile business. Overall, I am in favour of digitalisation and the adoption of AI in our industry, but I believe it is important to do it wisely and sustainably, carefully considering the short- and long-term implications for the company, employees and customers, and with a clear strategy and long-term commitment to maximise the benefits.
New Specific Management Software that Plans and Analyzes the Production Process from A to Z: NOW