"The key issue today is how to maintain manageability and speed of decision—making"

Digital technologies and artificial intelligence have already become familiar in the functionality of any large company in the Russian Federation. Elena Dauwalder, Deputy Director of the Digital Transformation Department and Head of the Michurin Transformation Program at Cherkizovo Group, told Izvestia how new management and production practices are being implemented in the agro-industrial complex.

— What is more difficult for a company of your scale today — to grow or manage an increasingly complex business structure?

— Growth is a natural state for a large company. It is much more difficult to maintain manageability as the business structure becomes more complex, diverse and large.

Today Cherkizovo Group has dozens of production sites, a full cycle from grain cultivation to finished products, and more than 40,000 employees. In this model, any management decision is instantly reflected in the entire chain: from the purchase of raw materials to the shipment of products. Out—of-sync is a specific production and financial loss.

In recent years, the external environment has become more volatile: logistics, suppliers, and financial conditions are changing. In such circumstances, scale in itself is no longer an advantage — it adds complexity.

Therefore, the key question today is how to maintain manageability and speed of decision—making. This is where digital tools come to the fore: they become part of the management architecture.

— At what point did it become clear that the previous IT architecture was no longer sufficient for such a scale?

— When there were too many processes and participants, disparate systems began to slow down development. It took several days to coordinate purchases, and some of the data had to be compiled almost manually, as the risk of errors increased. It became obvious that it was futile to develop the company on outdated digital rails. Their advantages actually came down to habit: when everything, albeit with nuances, but it works, it's hard to change. But it was necessary, because the available services provided only the illusion of control: each department sees its own part of the process, but there is no complete picture at the level of the entire group. This is critical for any company that plans to develop.

Therefore, we abandoned the idea of a monolithic solution for all directions. Instead, they began to build a platform in which the necessary modules are integrated into a single contour. This allowed us to take into account the specifics of agribusiness and preserve the integrity of the management architecture.

Initially, we considered the transition to Russian platforms not as a replacement for individual services and applications, but as a strategic decision. This is how the Michurin digital transformation program was developed, as part of which the introduction of a new ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) began. It allowed us to form a unified management structure covering key end—to-end processes, from procurement and production to logistics and finance.

Michurin is a set of interrelated initiatives united by a common goal: to unify and digitize the group's key business processes. Today, more than 9,000 users participate in the program, and the implementation team exceeds 400 people. In terms of scale, this is the largest ERP transformation in the company's history.

When we talk about the Michurin program, we are not talking about local automation. The new platform covers more than six hundred corporate and industry processes across all business lines. We are building a digital model of the full production cycle — from feed production to the shipment of finished products. In fact, a digital twin of the production and warehouse chain is being formed.

At the pilot stage, enterprises forming vertically integrated clusters were selected. This allowed us to test the new architecture on a full production cycle. This approach made it possible to test the controllability of the system in real conditions.

— With such a scale of change, is it more difficult to rebuild technologies or change the usual patterns of employee behavior?

— The technological part is large-scale, but predictable. Architecture can be designed, integration can be calculated, infrastructure can be scaled. This is a difficult engineering task, but it can be solved with a methodology.

A much more sensitive area is people and management culture. When a transformation affects hundreds of processes and thousands of employees, the usual work model is actually rebuilt.

For departments, this means moving from autonomous management to working in a single architecture: it is necessary to unify processes, abandon individual practices, and synchronize team actions. This is always associated with resistance — the areas of responsibility and the level of openness change.

To speed up and simplify the process of implementing Michurin, a team of employees from the Digital transformation department and representatives of business units involved in the implementation of initiatives has built work within the framework of the Yandex 360 ecosystem. The transition to the new solution turned out to be smooth due to the fact that many employees were already familiar with the services according to personal scenarios — they used mail, called the Teleconference, or worked with files in Documents. The unified interface and technology stack significantly simplify adaptation.

— How do the company's employees feel about digital transformation?

— The key element of the program was not so much the development of a platform, but rather systematic work with changes — training, involving all employees of the company: from HR and accountants to top managers and shareholders, the formation of a new culture of working with data. It was important to us that employees perceive the digital environment not as a control tool, but as a means of increasing manageability and predictability.

It is difficult to change the algorithms of work that have been working for many years, but in the end it is the maturity of the team that determines the success of the transformation. Technology creates opportunity, but a sustainable outcome ensures that people are ready for it.

— What did you rely on when choosing an ecosystem solution for the work of the project team?

— We understood that it would be difficult, but there are more advantages. For example, a single digital space allows you to synchronize processes and teams, see relationships and risks, and manage a portfolio of initiatives in real time. Scalability, sustainability, and ecosystem-based solutions were also important to us.

The use of the Yandex 360 virtual office confirmed the correctness of this approach. We decided to use it to improve the efficiency of interaction within the project team. And it immediately bore fruit: the ecosystem greatly simplified the process of implementing a new ERP system.

— What digital solutions have you used to simplify digital transformation?

— Yandex Tracker played an important role. It has become a key tool for the project team to manage the transformation program: it combines the tasks of diagnosis, design, implementation of initiatives, risk management and coordination of results. This allows you to see the status of work and the loading of teams in real time.
The combination with Yandex DataLens provided us with operational analytics, a Wiki — a single knowledge space, and communication services - team synchronization. As a result, we have received an integrated management system for the transformation program.

— What has the digital transformation become for you?

— We initially perceived it as a key investment. Today, without powerful digital services, it is not only difficult to look to the future, but also to be successful in the present.

We can already see that this approach gives results: decisions are made faster, problem areas are identified earlier. For an industrial business, this directly affects the timing of project implementation and financial results.

In addition, the integrated digital transformation has reduced the costs of disparate solutions and reduced operational risks. The economic effect is evident not only in numbers, but also in the sustainability of the entire management model.

— What's the next step? How much demand do you see for artificial intelligence?

— In an industrial company of comparable scale to Cherkizovo, technology is not a matter of convenience. This is a matter of competitiveness in the long term, and therefore a matter of maintaining market leadership. Now we see that we have started our digital transformation program on time.: Today, Russian software is not only not inferior to foreign software, but also better in some aspects. For example, it is initially created taking into account the requirements of Russian legislation, which reduces potential risks.

The next step is to expand the use of AI—based tools. Artificial intelligence is with us seriously and for a long time, so it is necessary to use it. However, it is better not to try to make him work for himself, the decision always remains with the person, and all responsibility is on him.

But it is essential for us that management decisions are based on high-quality data and well-established processes. AI is a tool to strengthen a leader, not replace a managerial role. Therefore, we are following the development of the Alice Pro AI assistant.

If we talk about the future, now we plan to focus on strengthening management analytics and a gradual transition to predictive tools. Today, this is the basis for maintaining the status of an industry leader.