How to Free Up Capital & Capacity for Digital Transformation

By |August 11th, 2020|

Technical Debt's High Costs Only Accelerate with Time While finding opportunities in the high cost of technical debt may seem counterintuitive, it is not. By simplifying and modernizing, you free up delivery capacity, and capital, that is tied up in old software (vendor maintenance and support staff). Both the simplification and modernization that come with the technical debt reduction allow you to more quickly make changes (more capacity), while creating a virtuous cycle of improvement. Think [...]

Make M&A Transition & Integration Easier

By |May 21st, 2019|

Merger & Acquisition Integration is hard work, but the rewards can be significant. Fortunately, we can accelerate the first hundred days to gain rapid benefits. Anyone who has done M&A work knows it can be difficult. Mergers and Acquisitions involve integrating the people, existing processes, technology, assets, products/services, cultures, and a whole host of other key items. None of this effort is trivial. Mix in aggressive TSA (Transitional Service Agreement) terms from an acquired d [...]

9 Games ERP Consultants Play

By |January 14th, 2013|

  Most people in the ERP industry agree that software consultants can play a major role in helping their clients successfully implement a new ERP package. While some consulting firms have more expertise than others do, at least most firms try to operate with their client’s best interest in mind. However, many firms within the ERP industry are outright thieves. They will not hesitate to take advantage of their clients with consulting games to pad their own wallets. In fact, some firms are [...]

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 2

By |December 3rd, 2012|

For those who may not be aware, SAP is not the first company to require user licenses for third party or “indirect usage.” This requirement is becoming more commonplace, and some companies are quite aggressive with it. This follow-up to my previous post on SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1 will address real opportunities here. Over the years, SAP has set itself apart by aggressively pursuing sales while generally maintaining good customer relations. SAP's strategy is a balancing [...]

SAP Third Party – Indirect Usage Licensing Part 1

By |November 26th, 2012|

Many SAP customer license contracts contain either a direct or an indirect reference to SAP’s third party usage licensing requirements. That requirement is referred to as “indirect usage” and carries a hefty potential financial penalty. The basic idea is that if you use any non-SAP system to access SAP data, the user of that external system must acquire an SAP Named User License. I understand SAP's argument that if you use portions of the SAP software (BAPIs, RFCs, Function Modules, etc.), you [...]

Building an Effective SAP ERP Delivery Organization

By |November 5th, 2012|

There are generally three major components for improving SAP delivery. These three components can improve SAP and technology delivery in general while impacting corporate business performance and marketplace success. Delivery Approach Delivery Methodology IT Organizational Development The following content is written with a focus on SAP; however, it can be completely generalized to virtually any IT organization. You need a careful focus on the delivery approach. Here there are two key paradigms [...]