PH2 - Interview with ERP System Fusion Manager - Mike Beil

Mike Beil is a Senior Lead of ERP Fusion. His job focuses on ensuring that current systems integrate well with the upcoming SAP platform. He mainly works with data migration, validation, and ensuring the process of fusion aligns with the strategic goals that leadership aims to achieve with this implementation. Mike has served as a system engineer and as a cybersecurity expert prior to this position and has a deep understanding of how the vertically integrated utility works with its business functions.

Mike and I sat down to talk about the technical considerations that Avista has to make when integrating into this large ERP system. My questions, unlike others, focused on understanding the backbone of our ERP systems and what is being done to ensure we mitigate some identified risks that come with it.

During our conversation Mike spoke about the broader operational goals behind the ERP implementation. From his perspective, much of the motivation behind the project comes from the recognition that many existing processes at Avista were built around the “Avista way” of doing things. While these processes have worked for many years, they are not always the most efficient. The ERP implementation represents an opportunity to rethink how the company operates and streamline some of those long standing processes.

He framed the implementation as a rare moment in the lifecycle of a company. For employees who plan to spend a long time at the organization, projects of this scale do not happen often. Because of that, he sees it as an opportunity to meaningfully influence how the business will function for many years. Rather than focusing only on the technology itself, he described the work as something that could shape the long term operational structure of the company.

Mike also connected the technical work to the broader responsibility utilities have to their customers. Since much of the funding for these systems ultimately comes from ratepayers, improving operational efficiency becomes more than an internal business goal. The expectation is that better systems and more efficient processes will help the company manage its resources more responsibly. In that sense, he framed the ERP implementation not only as a technology upgrade but also as a way to ensure that the company operates more efficiently with the resources provided by the community.

Overall his outlook on the project was largely optimistic. Having been at Avista for many years, he views the ERP implementation as an exciting opportunity to modernize the way the company operates and to leave behind systems and processes that were designed for a much earlier stage of the organization’s technological development.