CASE STUDY recognised that true operational excellence would require an equally modern digital backbone. This ambition to unify data, eliminate silos and create a single source of truth across finance, manufacturing, supply chain and sales was entrusted to Nagi Reddy Bommareddy, Head of IT at Uniceramic Qatar.
What followed was not simply an ERP implementation, but a fundamental transformation in how the manufacturer plans, produces, costs and delivers its products. In this exclusive for Intelligent CIO Middle East, Nagi Reddy shares why Uniceramic chose Epicor’ s cloud-based ERP, how the organisation re-engineered its processes around data, and what measurable impact this has had across the business.
Uniceramic operates one of the most advanced tile manufacturing facilities in the region. When you joined the company, what was the state of IT and operational data?
When I joined Uniceramic in 2022, the world-class factory infrastructure had just been completed so it was time to turn attention to the information landscape. Rather than the convention of each department operating with its own view of data, we wanted standardisation. In manufacturing, finance has its numbers, production has its own terminology, sales speaks a different language, and inventory records vary depending on who you ask. For an organisation of our scale and complexity, such an approach could create risk as small inefficiencies can quickly snowball. Our leadership was therefore committed to avoiding such shortcomings from the onset.
Was it immediately clear that ERP would be the solution?
Absolutely. As an IT leader, my primary responsibility was to bring unity across departments. You cannot do that with spreadsheets, disconnected tools or manual reconciliation. You need an ERP system that integrates procurement, production, inventory, finance and sales into one platform.
I have more than a decade and a half of experience implementing ERP systems across different industries and geographies, so I knew very clearly this was the backbone our organisation needed. The leadership team had invested hundreds of millions into building a highly automated factory. Without an integrated digital core, we would fall short of extracting the full value of that significant investment.
How did you approach the ERP selection process?
We evaluated multiple ERP vendors, looking at both cloud and on-premise options. The first non-negotiable requirement was strong manufacturing capability delivered as a true Software-as-a-Service model. Many platforms claim to support manufacturing, but when you look closely, the depth simply isn’ t there.
Second, we looked at modularity. We needed the flexibility to deploy what we needed first – things like finance, supply chain and manufacturing – and scale over time without being forced into unnecessary complexity or cost. Third, we considered user experience. An ERP system only delivers value if people actually use it.
Finally, of course, cost matters. This isn’ t just about licensing, but implementation and longterm scalability. When we scored everything objectively, Epicor consistently came out on top.
Why did you decide to go cloud-first rather than on-premise?
Cloud was a very deliberate decision. We did not want to spend time and resources maintaining infrastructure. Our focus needed to be on improving processes, not managing servers.
The cloud model by Epicor gave us resilience, scalability and faster time to value. It also positioned us well for the future. So down the line, if we’ re considering advanced analytics, AI-driven insights or Disaster Recovery, that’ s significantly easier to add on.
Let’ s talk about impact. What measurable improvements have you seen since implementation?
The improvements have been significant and very tangible because our ERP solution now sits at the centre of every critical business process – from procure-to-pay and order-to-cash through to production planning, inventory management and financial control.
On the operational side, inventory accuracy has improved from around 80 % to more than 96 %. That gives us near absolute confidence in stock availability, safety stock levels and batch traceability, which is essential in manufacturing. Our purchase order cycle time reduced from five to seven days down to just one to two days, driven by automated workflows and faster approvals.
When I joined Uniceramic in 2022, the world-class factory infrastructure had just been completed so it was time to turn attention to the information landscape. www. intelligentcio. com
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