Business Strategy and IT Strategy to Reproduce Apple Innovation

By |December 2nd, 2009|

What are the Apple Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs focused Apple innovation on competitive pressures and value propositions. He relentlessly focused organizational energy on customer-centered innovation and customer experience. In a nutshell, his innovation secret (if it can be called that) was the relentless pursuit of improving customer experience. As early as 2002, Steve Jobs told the world about his competitive strategy. During his statement, you can tell he was carefully evalu [...]

ERP and SAP Business Case for ROI, Business Benefit, and Success

By |November 23rd, 2009|

Your company’s SAP or ERP business case should start before your RFP, not just at a high level. Before ever issuing an SAP RFP, you need to take some time up front to get educated and develop some key understanding. Educated software buyers are more sophisticated in their research, and the more sophisticated you are, the better results you will receive. The more educated you are: The better the quality of the ERP RFI or RFP, The better choice you will make at vendor selection, The more objectiv [...]

Competitive Pressures and Value Propositions, Is Lean the Answer?

By |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

By |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 [...]

CRM, ERP, BI, and IT Investment — Where Do You Find the Business Benefit?

By |September 19th, 2009|

  Most companies want to use CRM applications to "supercharge" their sales forces. They want higher customer retention and acquisition than their competitors, managing the sales pipeline and having better market insight. But few companies realize these goals. After going through some of the academic studies and literature about CRM implementation, evidence suggests that some companies see limited benefit from their CRM implementations, but they are not happy overall. These anecdotal accoun [...]

Realizing SAP Business Benefit

By |August 26th, 2009|

When implementing or upgrading SAP, too often I encounter vendors and consultants who believe they are more qualified than they actually are. Think of backyard mechanics who changed the oil on someone's cars and checked the tire pressure a few times, then somehow think that qualifies them to do engine overhauls on Formula 1 race cars. Similarly, why do you expect old-style implementation vendors and consultants to transform your business into a competitive powerhouse by only addressing cost-foc [...]