SAP Archives - Page 12 of 22 - Innovate. Integrate. Transform. Run.

Tips to Overcome Sales Tactics by ERP System Integrators
Tips to Overcome Sales Tactics by ERP System Integrators

Tips to Overcome Sales Tactics by ERP System Integrators

By Bill Wood|May 2nd, 2011|

This is the beginning of a series reviewing some of the typical tactics and sales scams many software vendors use to gain your business. This way, you can create a selection process that filters out such vendors.Rather than competing on merit, many vendors resort to various strategies or techniques that prevent you from gaining the critical insight you need to make the best possible decision. Their strategies and tactics deflect you from discovering any of their weaknesses, or even deceive you [...]

Scams, Shams, ERP System Integrator Tactics
Scams, Shams, ERP System Integrator Tactics

Scams, Shams, ERP System Integrator Tactics

By Bill Wood|April 25th, 2011|

I read two articles that I wanted to summarize and review here. The articles provide two opposing viewpoints of consulting and some lessons learned for service buyers. This article on CIO about “7 Dirty Consultant Tricks (and How to Avoid Them)” [FN1] caught my attention. In particular, I was interested in the part about ways consultants try to “extract money from their clients…”: IT consultants are among the most slippery of the bunch. Among their favorite tricks: Using "scope change" t [...]

Will Next Generation IT Finally Transform Business
Will Next Generation IT Finally Transform Business

Will Next Generation IT Finally Transform Business

By Bill Wood|April 18th, 2011|

New IT Value Propositions – Moving from Operations to Customers and Innovation Throughout everything I do as a consultant, I try to categorize my activities into the three key areas of business: operations, customers, and innovation. Even though I have been working primarily in the supply chain areas of SAP since 1994 (SD – Sales and Distribution, MM – Materials Management, and PP – Production Planning), I have been focusing more on the key value areas of customers and innovation. I focus on cu [...]

Industry Specific SAP Consulting vs Deep SAP Application Experience
Industry Specific SAP Consulting vs Deep SAP Application Experience

Industry Specific SAP Consulting vs Deep SAP Application Experience

By Bill Wood|March 21st, 2011|

The need for industry-specific SAP experience is probably one of the most overrated ideas in the SAP consulting field. The most successful SAP implementations require integration of the business requirements with application functionality. To do this well requires three separate domains of expertise: industry expertise, application expertise, and consulting skills. One of those domains, consulting skills, is based on skills in change management, communication, process engineering, people skills [...]

Using Your SAP Steering Committee for Business Transformation
Using Your SAP Steering Committee for Business Transformation

Using Your SAP Steering Committee for Business Transformation

By Bill Wood|March 14th, 2011|

How Long-Term SAP Steering Committee Integration Changes the Enterprise One of the biggest benefits of an SAP implementation is the business transformation it can bring. At first, the changes and challenges are uncomfortable, even downright painful. However, in the mid- to long-term, SAP brings about a business culture transformation. When ongoing steering committee involvement enables that transformation, business to IT convergence occurs. Over time, this convergence of business and technology [...]

What are SAP Best Business Practices Anyway
What are SAP Best Business Practices Anyway

What are SAP Best Business Practices Anyway

By Bill Wood|March 7th, 2011|

Over the last couple months, I have seen a few posts debating the use of software “best business practices.” The basic takeaway is that if everyone uses the standard delivered “practices,” no one has competitive advantage. While this may be true for many software applications, two components of SAP make this idea misleading. Many of these commentators fail to recognize that SAP refers to different things as "best business practices." The key types of SAP best business practices involve the proc [...]