Here’s
what a typical project involves:
Configurator implementation requires an assessment to
understand the business challenges and information needs of Dealers,
Sales, Order Administration, Engineering, Materials, Manufacturing
and Service as well as those who will maintain/support the
system.
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How do customers, dealers and the sales force think
about the product and its configurability; what’s working; what’s
not?
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Quotations—what do they need to look like; how is
pricing handled?
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Sales Orders—how to translate quotations into sales
orders?
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Work Orders—how to translate sales orders into work
orders?
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What’s the business process for requesting new
features and options, getting the request approved, engineered,
getting cost and pricing data, updating the configurator with the
new feature or option?
Configurator implementation often involves
transitioning the enterprise away from an “engineer-to-order” or a
“mass production” paradigm—it is essential that you create a shared
vision of how business will be different with the introduction of a
configurator.
Configurator implementation requires a “make” or “buy”
decision with respect to the configurator technology.
Selecting the wrong technology can kill a project’s success.
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Can an “off-the-shelf” package satisfy your
organizations unique needs?
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What happens if your competitor decides to implement
the same “off-the–shelf” system?
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If you buy an “off-the-shelf” application, what
customization or personalization is required? What integration
is required with other applications?
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If you “make,” it is necessary to develop the
requirements, the software, the test and integration plan, etc.
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Are you concerned about seizing competitive
advantage? If so, a customized system may be your best
choice.
There must be a product rationalization
process—deciding “what” and “what not” to offer the
marketplace.
Configurator implementation includes modularizing the
product structure (bill of materials) with the features and options
to promote internal operating efficiencies and ease information
hand-offs; defining configurator rules for allowable
configurations
Developing a process and tools to create the data
needed for the configurator system and subsequently added to the
configurator
Developing process to maintain and enhance information
in the configurator system
In situations where profitability is at issue, a
project may include implementing Activity-Based Costing so senior
management can truly understand the profitability of individual
products and product lines
Testing order configurators through the process
Educating the organization how to do business
differently in this new, mass customization business paradigm
Examining the corporate data model and looking for
interface requirements
A full roll-out is necessary to all users of the new
system—what is needed to make each category of user
successful?
Who can you rely on to help
you successfully implement a mission-critical mass customization
initiative?
Time after time, the marketing pitch of a
well-intended software vendor captures the big sale and then the
company struggles to realize value (if any) from their
investment.
Sadly, this happens far too often.
Why is this? Software vendors are not
architects of enterprise-wide mass customization solutions! Though their claims may be
different, they really do not understand enterprise-wide business
processes. Furthermore, they have not worked closely with
every department in an organization and every level of management
from the shop floor workers to the CEO. We have.
It is only by having an in-depth understanding of
your business that it is possible to deploy a software application
and integrate it into a company whose next phase of growth and
development relies on its success with the application.
We can help you with this.
How many businesses succeed “in spite of” and
“not because of” an application deemed appropriate to solve a
strategic problem?
Software doesn’t solve problems – it is how you
deploy software across the enterprise that solves real problems.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
mass-customization-expert
- Key Differentiators
We are management
consultants
-
We are independent of any technology solution
providers. We look for the best technology fit based the client's needs, and do not try to
force a specific technology into a client's business
-
We look at problems "holistically" -
we are
concerned about the problem from the perspective of solving a
specific business challenge across the enterprise and even beyond
the enterprise to the extended enterprise (Dealer and Customer),
not just addressing a departmental problem within a company
-
We are concerned with all
dimensions of the problem
-
Business
process
-
User
interface-inputs & outputs-to the application(s)
-
Integration
points with users
-
Integration
points with other IT applications
-
Creation,
maintenance, and status reporting of data on an ongoing
basis
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We integrate (and in most cases, defines) the
business process with the technology
-
We define the mission for the technology
consultants
We are not technology consultants
-
There is no "one-size-fits-all" technology
solution - often vendors tend to represent their solution as "do
it all"
-
Technology that may have worked well in one
company may be inappropriate for a company in the same business
or industry
-
Technology consultants don't do "management
consulting" - they provide electronic infrastructure but often
know little about the underlying business process or business
problem - they rely on firms like ours to assist
them
-
They are the builders of roads - they can't
tell you where the road should be or what it should look like
-
A technology consultant can tell you what's
the best software approach to take given a sound understanding
of a business problem, but without that understanding, can't
tell you which software approach is appropriate
We have the ability to write about and
communicate complex principles across the enterprise
We have a track record helping clients be more successful dealing technology
consultants and deploying new applications
