Solution Implementation new technology comes with the promise of significant return on investment (ROI) to business stakeholders, senior leadership, and the bottom line. Defining these promises typically comes to life through identification of project goals and success criteria, and how a project moves from the definition phase to design is critical. It is not uncommon for business stakeholders to form a mental image of the solution once there is a high-level understanding of the features the new technology provides. But is understanding the sizzle a new tool can bring to your current business challenges enough to have a winning project? Perhaps not!
The technology will no doubt provide capabilities that aren't part of your current system or haven't been conceptualized in addressing current business issues. Understanding the capabilities of any new technology is a critical step in defining the endpoint solution. Letting the technology lead the solution-definition effort can be risky, however, and may be no better than putting lipstick on a pig.
One of the biggest challenges any systems implementation project will face is dealing with the current business processes and practices surrounding a legacy system, or put in place in the absence of a legacy system. At Column5, we understand the importance of ensuring your business process is lean and delivers on the customer-value proposition prior to applying new technology. Better processes produce lower costs, more motivated employees, and increased customer satisfaction. A major challenge of any business is the elimination of non-value-add work; particularly work that does not add value for customers. While technology plays a critical role as the enabler for business strategies, automating an inefficient process is costly and wasteful, as it does little to minimize resource consumption or maximize customer value.
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) takes time.
At Column5, we employ Accelerated SAP (ASAP) proven implementation methodology to optimize the success of implementing the SAP Business Suite. ASAP divides projects into five phases and adheres to a specific roadmap, incorporating quality checks at the end of each phase. During Phase 2: Business Blueprint, As Is and To Be, business processes are mapped for optimization, and functional requirements are created and input to the conceptual design. Technology is part of the equation, but it needs the proper processes to have everything add up.
