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June 23rd, 2010
The following post will examine four mistakes that organizations make when evaluating enterprise business software. When organizations look to evaluate software they often make the mistake of interviewing vendors as the software evaluation process itself.
Organizations make several mistakes when evaluating software. The organization usually proceeds straight to the vendor demonstrations without a plan to get ramped up and educated within the space. Often times at this point the functional and technical requirements have not been gathered and the correct business process mapping has not occurred. There are several problems with this approach.
The first problem, is that organizations usually start with too many vendors to start the evaluation. This rapidly becomes an exercise in administration. The stakeholder often tasked to select the vendors usually is also the project manager. This person must select the vendors on the long list, collect all the research necessary to understand the intricacies of features/functions, understand their own requirements, educate theirself, educate the rest of the project team, manage all the questions, answers and content provided by the vendors. managing and keeping the data collected becomes difficult as there is much to sort through. Another complexity is that many software applications have similar or the same features making differentiation between solutions even more difficult.
The second problem with inviting vendors for demonstrations of their software is that without a set demonstration script for the vendors each will have their own agenda. Each vendor is not given the same chance to be evaluated on the same criteria. Vendors will often show the customer all the functions and cool features their software is capable of providing while not solving the original business problem.
A third problem is that the features often shown during a vendor demo become the actual evaluation criteria for your company’s new enterprise software system, which often changes by vendor and can again lead to selecting the incorrect system. This introduces additional project scope, buying unnecessary functionality and wasting company money. These wanderings off of original intent can cause a company a non-sufficient roi and a longer time to realize the benefits that the new system can bring. This lack of diligence may actually impede business growth by tying up too much money in the original system selection.
A forth problem is strategic fit. It is often overlooked when going through rapid and many vendor demonstrations. Organizations can easily get caught up with the the luxuries of the software which may sometimes be overkill for your company which leads to over buying. The organization might not realize the extra resources that the company will be liable for during and after the implementation. The scope of the implementation itself can overwhelm a smaller organization which can lead to extra spending on consultants to complete the project.
These are four points that can be mitigated by your organization if you do not jump straight to vendor demonstrations when proceeding with a full software evaluation. If you are considering evaluating any type of enterprise software give us a call. Use the Tru-Eval method to impartially evaluate and rank any type of enterprise software. See www.eval-source.com for details or follow us on twitter @eval_source
Tags: business process mapping, correct business, demo, demonstration script, enterprise, Organizations, SCOPE, vendor, vendor demo, vendor demonstrations
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June 22nd, 2010
Personally I like the functionality and the fun an iPhone can provide. But when it comes to functionality I think it may be better to go for a Blackberry. A third option are the phones offered by several different manufacturers with the Android operating system by Google. Although the Android store is not as extensive as the Apps store from Apple it does give you other options.
My search for a new cell phone has revealed many options are available for phone types of which I am leaning towards an Android based phone. For the carrier I am looking at few phones are available. However once you know the specs and the technology they use it opens up a whole new dimension of choice. I have identified several phones in which I like however, was shocked to find out the phones I did like varied in versions of software from new depending on the manufacturer. My thought was, that similar to new product development a certain minimum standard would have existed in the latest iterations of these phones similar to that of an OS like Windows 7.0 or Snow Leopard from Apple.
After reading reviews of several sites and investigating each phone I am interested in I have found that the latest versions of these phones do not come with the same level OS as I thought. They range from version 1.5 . 2.1. for Android. Also, when looking at the specs the Android OS version is difficult to find. It seems the Androidsphere chosen by developers are not necessarily the latest and greatest. Wouldn’t choosing different versions of the OS in which to develop would limit the diversification of the application? Might that also not limit the number of manufacturers that your application would work on?
I have seen a lot of reported complaints for the iPhone 4 ranging from poor reception to a yellowish tint on the screen. Could this be another product rushed to market without proper testing ? In the case of Apple this seems unlikely but in a rush to release the 4th generation phone especially with strong competition from Google & HTC, Sony/Ericsson, Nokia, RIM etc. the bar for smart phones has been raised.
Do the carriers even offer 4G services, and if so will it live upto the hype that phones are capable of, will it make enterprise communication easier for say mobile enterprise applications such as collaboration and CRM, how much will the service be, is it significantly different from 3GS service, will there a standardization on an OS from Android depending on manufacturer, how would you know the difference from a service point of view are all questions that may need to be answered before the networks and service catch upto the hardware. A correction here noted by one of our readers – I was not sure that service providers offered 4G services or not. However, the phone is a 4th generation not the network service provided. The iPhone 4 is still a 3G phone.
To Blackberry or to iPhone that is the question…to which I still have no idea after all the research with the different phones I have looked at. Seems I have more questions than some of the answers available. Any thoughts of user experience by phone would be helpful. Particularly the iPhone, BB, HTC, Google/Android, Sony Experia X10 phone experiences I am looking for. Feel free to leave a comment or send me something on www.twitter.com/eval_source or info@eval-source.com
Tags: application, enterprise, functionality, google, iphone, iphone 4, phone, poor reception, snow leopard, store
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August 23rd, 2010
As technology pushes forward and networks and systems become more complex retailers are finding more innovative ways to control their inventories. The consumer is demands real-time information and retailers are forced to employ systems that show inventory visibility to the item level and to provide that information to internal parts of the operation that handle production, procurement, shipping, customer service and financials.
A shift from from a traditional push model based on a time-series analysis to a more consumer-driven pull model for demand planning has started to emerge. Previously, technologies were not available and network bandwidths and even down to POS equipment did not accurately support real-time inventory levels. This made it difficult for vendors to to not only predict sales but also to become reactionary to market situations rather than be proactive about misreported inventory levels.
Now that network bandwidth, internet connectivity, software capabilities and hardware are all capable of building a conduit for bidirectional data flow so information can be shared from procurement all the way to customer delivery has now become reality. Vendors such as Red Prairie, Manhattan Associates etc have adopted new techniques and approaches to inventory tracking and visibility. In the case of these vendors “demand sensing” technologies are very prevalent in their inventory strategy and visibility for organizations to keep a breast of what is going on at store level or with their consumers. See our post 2 Approaches to demand sensing technologies http://www.eval-source.com/blog/?p=123 for further information.
Another underused method of inventory control and a way to control inventory costs is described below, attribute based demand planning. This is an approach to customize products by adding additional and value-added accessories or parts to deliver a newly created product. An example of this concept is how automotive manufacturers share platforms and parts to create different vehicles by using the same platform for several cars and trucks. this method is great at cost control but can also play into your inventory strategy for real-time results enabling the bidirectional data flow.
Attribute-based Demand Planning
The goal of a supply chain is to operate at the least possible dollar amount invested in inventory while maximizing efficiency and adaptability to changing customer demands. An approach to reducing the size of the chain is to reduce the amount of inventory within that chain. Reducing inventory can lead to recovered monies that can be applied to the bottom line. A method of doing this is attribute-based demand planning. This is a variation of the just-in-time (JIT) methodology for inventory reduction. Attribute-based demand planning is defined as the granular differentiation of product, with additional products or services added to products in order to increase value or to minimize the total inventory carried.
Attribute-based demand planning can achieve several benefits:
- Increased selling price (and gross revenue) for specialty products arises from the specific requirements that can be added to the items for specific consumption, location of manufacture, and specifications of raw materials. An example of this is a diamond company. The raw and uncut diamond is the base product that is in inventory. A customer can request a specific cut, such as a box cut. The company will then schedule the resources for this operation (for both labor and machinery) to be completed. With the value-added component of providing a polished box cut stone, the company can charge a higher selling price to the consumer.
- Product differentiation is enhanced by allowing substitutes. Granularity for product differentiation can reduce inventory costs by enabling more definitive forecasting (for contract negotiations), and a finer level of detail can be used for demand planning.
- Customer service is improved by having available-to-promise (ATP) and similar products available for sale. With the availability of real-time stock reporting, customer service can give the consumer an accurate picture of delivery time.
- Inventories are reduced with a product pooling strategy and similar component strategy. By invoking a pooling strategy for inventory, if the finished good requires many similar base components that must be assembled to complete the final product, then the company may use similar parts for completion of the good (as long as it does not make a difference in the finished product).
- Efficiencies for operation and machine scheduling are increased. By creating a clearer picture of planning, operations can schedule its resources, labor, and machines to complete the job.
Eval-Source is an Analyst/Consulting consulting firm that offers enterprise software evaluation, benchmarking for companies and strategic consulting to the business marketplace. Our innovative professional services combine to make your life easier whether it is to acquire enterprise software , or benchmarking to add critical decision support to your technology investments using the Tru-Eval and Tru-Benchmark systems. Follow our blog at www.eval-source.com/blog or on twitter @eval_source
Tags: internet connectivity software, inventory visibility, network bandwidths, time series analysis, underused method
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August 20th, 2010
How come the ipad has garnered such great attention? I guess it’s great to be Apple. They are touting this as a whole new market for possible business apps and other various needs and the greatest thing since sliced bread. The fact is this is not new technology. It just took Apple to popularize it.
The AIDC market featuring handheld data collection devices has had a long history of having tablet PC’s and tablets while designed for manufacturing and rugged environments have been around for a while. The drawback was these devices were always pricey thus limiting the adoption, but they did exist. Vendors such as Symbol now Motorola, Unitech, HP, Panasonic, Handheld Products, Intermec have had some form of industrial tablet available as far back as I can remember. When telnet sessions were the way to connect to your network via RF you always used handheld devices and some were actually tablets for the heavier applications and industrial applications where a lager display was needed. Even the handheld devices with laser and CCD scanners were prevalent in the pre-iPad supposedly newly created market for these products. Even RF devices that did not have scanning capabilities built-in were tethered capable thus allowing the scanning capabilities.
The buzz that the iPad has created has made the industrial applications and ruggedized tablets seems nonexistent. The reality is that these vendors of handheld AIDC devices created this market long before the iPad. Apple has taken the tablet idea and made it available for more widespread applications and front office capabilities which has put it into the spotlight and with Apple’s marketing prowess and power behind it many consumers that were unfamiliar with the AIDC industrial market and its existence. Since the introduction of the iPad other vendors have jumped on the bandwagon such as Samsung, Dell, Blackberry, HP, Asus and others. There is even talk about a $35 tablet for India. How will this affect the tablet market will prices drop ? Will this lead to more customer options ? it seems that at least the Samsung tablet is rumoured to have Android as the OS, which may further separate the iOS from Android and market erosion as now Android phones have now surpassed iPhones. Will the Blackberry tablet be geared towards more a business user than the iPad and what more capabilities will RIM introduce. One such rumour is the wifi capabilities of the Blackberry devices a real step up from other tablets.
So we will see where the market goes and which OS will reign supreme. Hopefully with the amount of increased players in this space should also drive down prices. If you have to absolutely have to have a tablet there will be many available soon. Will the introduction of these tablets cannibalize the netbook market? Like anything else in technology prices will decrease as more players enter the market and the product matures towards a greater acceptance.
Eval-Source is an Analyst/Consulting consulting firm that offers enterprise software evaluation, benchmarking for companies and strategic consulting to the business marketplace. Our innovative professional services combine to make your life easier whether it is to acquire enterprise software , or benchmarking to add critical decision support to your technology investments using the Tru-Eval and Tru-Benchmark systems. Follow our blog at www.eval-source.com/blog or on twitter @eval_source
Tags: Apple, business apps, ccd scanners, Consulting, Eval, handheld data collection, ipad, rf devices, rugged environments, technology
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August 11th, 2010
Now that your organization has decided to partake in the social media conversation are there precautions that you must take ?
Questions such as does your organization have a social media agenda?
- Do you know what you want to accomplish out of social media?
- Which social media to engage in?
- Where are my target customers? How far should the organization goto engage it customers?
- What information would your company release?
- Do you have a corporate image you would like to build and how to do this
- Who handles this within the organization?
- Do you have the network bandwidth to host the new application/platform?
- How will security be handled?
- How will you handle the explosion of content created?
- How will the content be stored/retrieved?
- What type of integration is need to other systems?
- Is the user interface conducive to achieve collaboration from internal and external customers?
- What is your response policy within the organizations
These are all valid questions that you should have an idea about when engaging in social media.
Many horror stories have arisen about people saying or writing inappropriate content and posting them leading to negative backlashes to their respective corporations and ultimately their demise as well. As an organization not only is it important to understand who is using the social media within your company but how it is used. As use of social media grows within the company what procedures are put in place to control the flow of information being released and what is being released as company secrets can easily be leaked proving your company to lose its competitive advantage.
Social media policy regulation within organizations is rapidly becoming the norm. As companies have been burned from rogue employees and comments and leaking company secrets. How will you deal with one of your employees who let something out of the bag or has an opinion that is not shared by the company line or has mistreated customers leading to bad press. Does your organization have a code of conduct for your employees to abide by, are there consequences to inappropriate actions, or does it lead to a straight dismissal of the employee? Do these policies also cover confidentiality if an employee moves on from your company are they still bound by social media regulation policy?
These regulation policies of use are not to “censor” employees but more to legally protect the company, the employee and its corporate image. Internal social media policy regulation will become a job responsibility as just another task. The employer is on the hook for the comment. In an effort to protect consumers the FTC has implemented a social media guideline policy about truth in advertising policy http://tinyurl.com/ygcmpfd to ensure organizations be truthful about their products. If an employee does not disclose their relationship about an endorsement of a product
Here is an executive summary of the IBM’s social media policies as a guideline to maybe model some of your own social media policies from. IBM Social Computing Guidelines: Executive Summary
- Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines.
- IBMers are personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time—protect your privacy.
- Identify yourself—name and, when relevant, role at IBM—when you discuss IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.
- If you publish content to any website outside of IBM and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”
- Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
- Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to IBM.
- Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source.
- Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in IBM’s workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory—such as politics and religion.
- Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.
- Be aware of your association with IBM in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an IBMer, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients.
- Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
- Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. IBM’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on IBM’s brand.
As can be seen it’s not as easy as jumping in if you are an organization engaging in social media interaction. Crafting of a message, and usage guidelines must be considered if you want to absolve your company of legal liability. So proceed with caution when engaging in social media.
Eval-Source is an Analyst/Consulting consulting firm that offers enterprise software evaluation for companies and strategic consulting to the business marketplace. Our innovative professional services combine to make your life easier whether it is to acquire enterprise software , or benchmarking to add critical decision support to your technology investments using the Tru-Eval and Tru-Benchmark systems. Follow our blog at www.eval-source.com/blog or on twitter @eval_source
Tags: company secrets, guideline, image, information, network bandwidth, privacy, response policy, target customers, use, valid questions
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July 25th, 2010
So now you have decided to take your company in the direction of social media. Now what? Organizations must find a way to effectively manage the content explosion happening in today’s industry. Below is a list of questions that may face your organization today with advent of unstructured content explosion.
- Do you have a platform to administer the this new functionality
- Do you have storage capacity
- Do you capture any of the information generated now both internal and external
- Do you have trouble finding the correct documents you need now
- Are things misfiled and not in a logical order by customer, by topic, etc.
- What degree will you allow from customer interaction and internally
- What security precautions must be taken
- Will there extra hosting charges from your ISP
- What integration is required from your other systems
- Will it be easy to use
- Are you loosing valuable IP
- Are you capturing fleeting knowledge from older workers
- How much will this cost
- Cloud or on-premises
- Do you need a social media policy for employees to govern use and regulations
- Will this be subject to government regulations, can this system help manage compliance
- Do you have a social media strategy or will you hope for the best when you begin
- How much administration will this add to my IT
These are some basic questions that will have to be answered before you start to even evaluate which social media strategy you pursue. If you answered yes to more than one of these questions it may be time to evaluate and select a CMS system.
As far customer interaction is concerned, how have you decided to engage them? New content will be created from internal and external sources including collaboration from within and external partners. The importance of intellectual property in a knowledge based society becomes increasingly important acting as a thought leadership, innovation and differentiating factors from your competitors. The explosion of content be it written or multimedia type can cripple an organization’s ability to stay organized, capture and manage the content created. It can easily get to the point where the organization is not aware of the information it has and cannot harness the power of the newly created content.
Enter a content management system. This system can not only manage the information but can harness the power of the newly created unstructured data/content and be able to file, store and retrieve effectively the data created. Even everyday tasks such as workflows can be defined and executed with in the CMS. The CMS may also be extended to manage the data and web site content thus simplifying things a little further for the organization. In precedents being set today by judges ordering old email correspondence it has become extremely important for an organization to be able to archive and retrieve old email and content information. This can make the difference to retain the rights of your innovation or whether the rights or patents generated can be granted to your competitors.
The media created such as documents, emails, multimedia content ca contain valuable insights, thought leadership and should stored and easily retrievable. Especially in the cases of customer interactions where you may need a repeatable process to send out customer information, sign up information gathered and set a follow up date is required. The right CMS can streamline publishing processes, boost infrastructure architecture, allow no technical users to edit and create their own easily, metadata can easily be tagged and retrieved and even provide a knowledge base for FAQ about your organization and can even be used to create, store and disseminate training material. Another useful application of a CMS is multiple collaboration and globalization. If your organization has several worldwide locations collaboration can be simplified and can be monitored as to who creates what content and how often can prove very valuable as security can easily be administered by content, by group and/or user.
Another important aspect of capturing this content is loss of knowledge transfer. As older workers retire their valuable experience is often lost and not extended or transferred to the organization and its employees. This can be a valuable and easy way to perpetuate knowledge transfer and make sure your organization hangs onto its IP and innovations. When the older employees retire you can carry on their knowledge by having their tricks and techniques replicated.
Discussed are a few reasons why CMS becomes important to organizations. Is it time for your organization to adopt a Content management system? If your organization faces any of the problems listed it may be time to evaluate a CMS for efficiency sakes and protect your valuable IP now.
Eval-Source is an Analyst/Consulting consulting firm that offers enterprise software evaluation for companies and strategic consulting to the business marketplace. Our innovative products and services combine to make your life easier whether it is to acquire enterprise software , or benchmarking to add critical decision support to your technology investments using the Tru-Eval and Tru-Benchmark systems. Follow our blog at www.eval-source.com/blog or on twitter @eval_source
Tags: CMS, cms system, collaboration, content management system, correct documents, customer interaction, information, knowledge, knowledge based society, management
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July 22nd, 2010
In today’s economic climate companies are asked to do more with less. Companies that have an online presence and engage in cross channel retailing must have the back office systems to support the multiple avenues in which the business engages its customers. The traditional model of a bricks and mortar store are just the front end of what the customer sees.
By 2015, it’s estimated that shoppers from around the world will spend about $119 billion on goods and services bought via their mobile phones, according to a study by ABI Research released this past February. In the United States alone, mobile shopping rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009, and mobile campaign spending also increased by 25 to 30% over the past year, with companies shelling out just under $313 million according to the same study. Senior Analyst Mark Beccue, said that he’s forecasting U.S. sales to reach about $2.2 billion in 201
Customer’s expectations have increased due to the efficiency provided by leading retailers such as Amazon, Macy’s, Walmart, BestBuy and others that have treated customers to real-time inventory levels when ordering. Consumers expect to see what is in stock, how many, when it is available, what delivery is possible, if any are on order, what are the expected shipping costs, how long it will take to be delivered, by what means, possible price comparisons among other retailers for the same item and the final cost to you are now expected as standard customer information for customers to buy.
As a retailer, wholesaler, or any B2B/B2C type of business are your systems ready for the mobile boom? The sale of smartphones have increased in the first half of 2010 which empowers consumers and professionals to do more and be more productive using their smartphone. If a business professional uses their phone to change a reservation or flight while in-transit or a consumer actually buying a product from a website is your infrastructure ready to handle this additional traffic, the additional administration created, the support of mobile enabled applications, does it add to infrastructure costs, the cost to implement mobile applications to increase customer service are all questions that organizations should start to ponder and take proactive approaches to.
Certain applications that are ahead of the curve for mobile usage such as social networks, and CRM especially have become very smartphone friendly and some company’s have shifted their a majority of their marketing towards the mobile market. With the advent of the App Store from Apple and the Droid Market for android customers more applications are making it easier to connect using the smartphone. Certain Canadian banks have already ported their online banking applications to the cloud through smartphones. Bill payments, transfers can all be done with your cell phone now.
The mobile revolution is also changing the way consumers also buy products and services. The use of social media is influencing per purchasing and shifting the power to the consumer not the organization. Apps such as scanning a barcode from your phone to get on-line reviews and competitive price quotes are quickly beginning to catch on as commonplace.
Namely, there are three winners here the consumers for ease of use, the cellular companies for all the extra data packages that will be needed and the phone manufacturers. Consequently this increase in handset sales should cause the hardware suppliers to notice that customer is still king and they must increase their customer service efforts and support. They may even use the very handsets as the entry point to their customer service portals.
Feel free to share your comments and join us on twitter http://www.twitter.com/eval_source. If you like the blog click the Share button at the bottom. Eval-Source offers strategic consulting to organizations on best practices for procurement, business process management, functional infrastructure application strategies and management consulting for systems.
Tags: bricks and mortar, economic climate, infr, mobile revolution, mortar store, phone, revolution, store, Study, use
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