Johnson Controls modernizes global operations with Oracle Fusion Cloud

Founded in 1885, Johnson Controls International (JCI) is a global leader in smart buildings, leveraging award-winning technologies and expertise to make buildings function better. Using artificial intelligence and data driven solutions to give customers insights into their buildings’ health, the company delivers the blueprint of the future to schools, hospitals, airports, stadiums and more.

A large part of JCI’s growth is attributed to its services business, which aims to help customers create and maintain safe, healthy, and sustainable spaces. However, the acquisitions that facilitated the expansion resulted in a network of disparate tools. For example, the company amassed 150 different ERP systems, creating a complex financial landscape where processes varied from team to team. The company experienced similar struggles across its supply chain and customer service departments.

Scattered data and the lack of standardization made it difficult for JCI to serve customers as a collective team, especially on a global scale. Leadership knew it was time to address the issue by adopting a single, integrated platform that would simplify the business landscape, improve efficiency of operations, and make it easier to meet customers’ evolving needs.

When deciding on the best solution to align with its vision, JCI’s experience and success with Oracle E-Business Suite played a big role. Company leaders also recognized the power of Oracle’s cloud technology and ultimately selected the unified suite of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM), and Oracle Service.

The fully integrated platform was attractive to JCI because it would establish a foundation for more consistent, standardized processes across the company’s global services business. The system would also eliminate data siloes by creating a single source of data for cross-functional analysis that could be used to uncover new growth opportunities and gain a holistic view of the business.

By retiring legacy on-premises systems and moving out of its own data centers, JCI would save significant maintenance and energy costs while reducing its carbon footprint, a key sustainability initiative. Most importantly, Oracle Cloud Applications would simplify the company’s technology landscape and business processes, freeing up employees to better serve customers.

With the Oracle Cloud Applications suite, JCI created a cohesive services business with end-to-end processes that were replicated for users all around the world to better serve customers as a collective team. The company is working to consolidate its many disparate ERP applications into a single financial system in Oracle Cloud ERP. Oracle Financials gave JCI a real-time view of its financial position, making it easier to generate accurate budgets and forecasts that improve resource management while integrating with tools such as Oracle Project Management to help provide more control over ongoing and future projects. A simple user interface made it easy for employees to work in the system while providing localized features to help align with the company’s global operating model. The application also helped JCI facilitate the pricing of intercompany supplies and services while optimizing the taxes it pays.

JCI used Oracle Cloud SCM to be more proactive to customer’s needs. Oracle Procurement’s built-in collaboration capabilities provided a central repository to better manage supplier relationships. This allowed JCI to better facilitate compliant buying, automate invoice processing to reduce costs and supplier payment errors, and generate greater value from its suppliers. The company also enhanced its ability to capture and execute orders more quickly with Oracle Order Management, leading to a more efficient order-to-cash flow and faster fulfillment.

Additionally, JCI accelerated its service capabilities to boost customer satisfaction. The company used Oracle Service’s AI-driven scheduling to complete more jobs per day, while field technicians streamlined service activities, thanks to powerful capabilities installed on their mobile devices.

The company is on track to achieve its own sustainability goals by moving away from underperforming, legacy on-premises systems, which can be responsible for between 40% to 90% of a building’s carbon emissions. By moving out of data centers in potentially suboptimal locations for sustainable energy, JCI has reduced its own carbon footprint, continuing on the path of decarbonization while saving money on energy and improving the efficiency of its back-office technology.

To deploy its Oracle Cloud Applications suite, JCI collaborated with Oracle partners KPMG, Infosys, and Accenture. The transformation is a multiyear journey, with the partner teams helping to transform outdated business processes to support the company’s global operations and spur additional growth.