Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies has announced the replacement of its internal software management systems with its own proprietary version, MetaERP. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was rolled out across 80% of the company's business, and is being hailed as a major victory for Huawei against the US restrictions that had once threatened the company's survival. Speaking at an internal ceremony held in Dongguan, China, Huawei board member Tao Jingwen described the switch to MetaERP as a breakthrough, following the company's disconnection from the old system and other core operation and management systems three years ago. The company's access to ERP tools, which it had largely purchased from Oracle, was cut off due to US trade sanctions against Huawei over alleged security concerns.
The MetaERP system is cloud-native, using Huawei's cloud-computing systems to provide greater efficiency than traditional ERP products. While Tao's speech did not mention whether Huawei intends to commercialise its ERP system and compete with the likes of Oracle and SAP, the new system provides a potential new business line for the company, which has been expanding into different areas in a bid to survive under US pressure.
According to Tao, the previous ERP system had been core to Huawei's operations for over two decades, and the cut-off was a "massive crisis" that threatened the company's existence. The new MetaERP system has been fully tested and is processing 15 million lines of accounting entries daily, in contrast to the old system, which Tao described as "a massive old building in disrepair". The development of the new system marks a significant step for Huawei, which has been grappling with increasingly difficult trading conditions and sanctions imposed by the US.