customer relationship management Archives - Innovate. Integrate. Transform. Run.

Customer Relationship Management or CRM
Customer Relationship Management or CRM

Customer Relationship Management or CRM

By MMyatt|June 13th, 2010|

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a core business practice that almost everyone reading this post is familiar with at some level. You have likely read about CRM, attended workshops and seminars on the subject, and perhaps even believe you have implemented a CRM initiative. While customer relationship management is certainly not a new business practice, it is also not a practice that most executives understand or leverage to its maximum capabilities. In today’s post, I will provide an ov [...]

ERP vs. ERP II vs. ERP III Future Enterprise Applications
ERP vs. ERP II vs. ERP III Future Enterprise Applications

ERP vs. ERP II vs. ERP III Future Enterprise Applications

By Bill Wood|May 31st, 2010|

ERP I, ERP II, & ERP III Abstract ERP applications integrate enterprise operations within and across enterprise legal entities, or company codes. ERP ii (or ERP 2) applications extend supply functionality to external enterprises (generally vendor-affiliated companies or enterprises) to reduce cost, improve supply chain efficiency, and perform collaborative innovation. ERP iii (or ERP 3) enterprises go to the next level as they integrate the ERP and ERP ii functionality to include customers [...]

IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes
IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes

IT Outsourcing, Off Shore Support, Cost Cutting and IT Department Changes

By Bill Wood|March 23rd, 2010|

Businesses everywhere are looking to shore up their bottom lines by cutting costs. As a result, cost centers such as IT departments are prime targets for outsourcing and offshore maintenance. The typical business script is that as the IT organization moves into maintenance mode, cost centers with high overhead become a prime target for reducing costs. However, despite how things might appear, cost is not the real driver of IT outsourcing. The real driver of IT outsourcing is function. IT departm [...]

Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business
Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business

Business and IT Alignment – Integrating Technology and IT Spend with Business

By Bill Wood|February 5th, 2010|

Aligning technology to business requirements is based on a few underlying assumptions that are often lacking from SAP projects. Those assumptions are 1) the business actually knows what their requirements are, 2) the project scope includes those requirements, 3) the right management and internal employees are committed and engaged, and 4) the system integrator you select has consultants with the required experience. Often, I see businesses fail to look beyond operational excellence areas of the [...]

Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?
Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?

Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?

By Bill Wood|November 10th, 2009|

Modern technology allows international outsourcing, greater agility, quicker product design to market, and specialized focus on niche markets, lowering the barrier to entry for new competitors and causing more market specialization. On the flip side, customers have a wide variety of information from sellers and the Internet about products, design, services, options, pricing, and availability. Business is more dynamic than ever. Because of the pace of change, focusing on internal process improve [...]

The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success
The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success

The Real Reason Executive Participation Creates IT Project Success

By Bill Wood|October 10th, 2009|

Since I started in the SAP and ERP arena in 1994, I have heard experts passionately declare that a key criteria for IT project success is executive participation. That mandate applies to any large scale project, whether through ERP, CRM, APO, SOA, BI, or other solutions. Many implementation companies wrongly believe that executive participation is only important because the executive brings authority and visibility to the project. However, a more overlooked yet crucial reason is the senior exec [...]