Improving implementation control and success and enabling existing customers to proactively improve how your software supports their business is the result of this SoftSelect offering.

There may not be a more challenging event in business today than the effort to fully and productively use complex enterprise/business software.  Far too often, businesses have unpleasant memories of previous implementations and virtually all firms have substantial untapped potential in systems for which they have already invested. SoftSelect addresses the major root causes of initial implementation chaos and inability to optimize. Major root causes are:

• Difficulties for the vendor and client implementation team to tightly work together

• The customer team is not empowered to conduct deep readiness improvement work that they must conduct themselves

• Implementation management does not have the tools, systems and controls to tightly monitor projects and proactively detect obstacles to progress before they become problems

SoftSelect's enterprise software project data and change management application and related methodology offer a new level of control for implementations and ongoing optimization. This is translated in the sales process as a message about lower risk to achieve more—and to do so faster with less strain. If decision makers grasp this, it is a significant influencer in the purchase decision.  Those that move to optimization (new or existing customers) will achieve more, and readily understand the value of upgrades and related services. 

Benefits for Software Vendors

The following are proposed benefits to software vendors (organized by major departmental functions):

Sales

• In sales to new prospects, the sales team can leverage the aspects of this offering that lower implementation risk and enable more to be achieved—after all; companies are buying solutions to problems, or in other words good business software fully implemented

• Standard procedures and tools enable customers to take on a larger role in implementation—which can be an attractive element in the sales process as it can lower implementation costs

• Over time, leverage the actual results of more successful existing customers in the acquisition of new customers

• Increased "follow-on" opportunities and sales with existing customers:

  • Increased user licenses and/or transactional fees as the customer uses more of your software’s capability by more people to control their business needs

  • Software upgrades, if purposeful, are more easily justified and sold—visibility of outstanding customer needs is clearly shown in the planning and management application enabling easy alignment with capabilities of enhancements

  • Upgrades could be sold based on what new functions are useful to a specific company. Reporting in the planning and management application can quickly isolate this subset of all available new functions.

  • More easily detect the legitimacy of using third party vendor’s solutions to solve problems or requirement objectives—resulting in a solution and satisfied customer

• Provides less risk for software vendors using pricing models that are based on customers increasingly using systems

• More easily sell direct support services and decrease dependence on non-company implementation resources

• Tighter collaboration with professional services sales or lowers barriers to having one sales function

• The certified requirements profile of your software product (created and used in implementations and optimizations) can be used in the sales process to improve the accuracy of what sales represents to prospects

• Existing customer data about outstanding requirements and the ability to test new functionality/capabilities can highlight trends and be used to enhance marketing and sales programs

Channel Management

• The implementation and optimization framework and methods increases the speed to train new business partners and more tightly monitor their progress and problems

• The projected increased business is attractive to current and prospective distribution channels

• No investment is required to adapt these tools/methods except potentially for training

• The certified requirements profile of your software product (created and used in implementations and optimizations) can be used in the sales process to improve the accuracy of what channel sales represents to prospects

Professional Services Organization (PSO)

• Complement normal implementation/optimization strategies—tucks in underneath to provide a frame work for:

  • Client specific plans to be tightly managed

  •  Any aspects of all implementations to be further standardized

• Fees to use SoftSelect's planning and management framework and methods are paid by customers—PSO functions only pay for training and setup of original implementation/optimization plan

• Industry vertical plans can be tuned and further accelerate implementation and optimization work

• The implementation and optimization framework and methods increases the speed to train implementation personnel and more tightly monitor their progress and problems

• The implementation and optimization framework and process facilitates the setting of a concrete plan with clear responsibilities for all involved (including executives)—those not following through are easily identified

• In the implementation planning process the framework and process identifies unrealistic customer expectations set in sales process

• The implementation/optimization audit process tracks business readiness confidence and highlights broader or systemic problems that will hinder progress with the new enterprise/business application and that may be beyond the implementation team’s skill to resolve

• The implementation/optimization audit clearly highlights a company’s readiness to utilize each software feature. When problems occur, the classic face-saving reaction to blame the software or implementers is greatly reduced.

• Improve the readiness of other enterprise/business systems with which your package must interface-enabling the customer to achieve better results earlier

• Scope creep is reduced as it is a clear process step to add or change requirement objectives in a particular phase of implementation or optimization

• The planning and management framework and methods enable improved flexibility in usage of implementation personnel resources. More remote work and management oversight can be achieved

• There is less stress on the implementation/optimization team—both for contractors and inside company members

• Enables "tighter" quoting of services as PSO can compare "apples to apples" functionality, complexity, etc as the database grows

• The optimization objective causes ongoing reasons for your sales function to keep in touch with customers

• Over time, negative trends can be noticed early. For example, users go back to an old way of conducting work outside of the software or new employees are not trained well and either make mistakes or don't use existing enterprise/business software as prior employees.

Product Management

• Results of optimization can be useful for influencing software enhancements or new strategic relationships with other software vendors/service providers

• Common "Gaps" across industry vertical are highlighted by easily produced reports from planning and management application

• Easily test new requirements/capabilities with existing customers using the planning and management application

Miscellaneous Functions (Finance/Accounting/Legal)

• The total strength of the planning and management framework will lower the incident rate of unhappy customers and the negative energy expended by management and other team members to rectify these situations

• Contacts can be written that tie to structure and realities of the planning and management framework's ability to manage discrete objectives, groups of objectives, and obstacles holding them back. The practice of capriciously blaming software vendors is greatly reduced as the true fault is much more visible.

• Data from the planning and management application may be used to settle disputes concerning promised vs. delivered functionality or service delivery

Process to Successfully Adapt SoftSelect Tools and Methods

Software vendors that approve the use of SoftSelect tools and methods will have a custom adaptation process designed so the benefits presented earlier may accrue as soon as possible. This adaptation process for this SoftSelect program is generally comprised of:

Assign Program Management:  Assign a vendor manager and SoftSelect manager that will lead and oversee this initiative and maintain momentum.

Establish Program Set-Up Fee:  This fee is to cover SoftSelect’s costs to perform the program set-up activities, which include training, customization/branding of SoftSelect planning and management application, software product certification, and other initial program management. Intellectual property fees to use SoftSelect tools and methods are earned on jobs and paid by your customers.

Coordination With Professional Services:  SoftSelect tools and related methods significantly provide structure to manage customer details and enable the implementation/optimization team to work together more effectively. Most elements of your current implementation plans will be maintained and SoftSelect items tuck in underneath as a framework. Notwithstanding this default synergy there is some effort involved in blending the two processes. As needed, standard SoftSelect written methodology instructions are modified to reflect the 'Blending' and to be available for the next major step of education and training.

Provide Education and Training:  When your entire team reaches a threshold of understanding on this new implementation/optimization process and how they benefit then program momentum is much more likely to be self-sustaining. The following education/training outline is presented in the context of the 'Blending' work with professional services (previous step) and endeavors to reach this threshold:

• Executive education on the top-level benefits for new and existing customers and how they can support the adaptation of these tools and methods. With any mission in which changes to process execution will occur, this executive support is always important.

• Sales teams are educated on the basics of SoftSelect’s implementation/optimization process and the details of why executive decision makers are attracted to the risk reduction attributes of this process.  Sales metrics are discussed so the results of this new program can be more easily measured.

• Professional services (including channel partners) are trained on the details of the new 'Blended' implementation and optimization process. PSO management is trained on how to quickly and effectively monitor jobs using reporting available in the planning and management application. The training is comprised of remote (and regularly available) phone/web-based training and an advanced course at a location that you specify (including resellers conferences). All training is backed up with detailed documentation on how this program can be utilized to the vendor's best advantage. The program manager from your firm should also become a methodology expert to more effectively support the proper use of this process.

Customize Softselect Tools And Methods:  Based on your implementation/optimization processes today and other factors, adjustments to the standard SoftSelect tools and methods may be in order. Additionally a functional requirement plan needs to be tuned to properly model the full capabilities of your software (certification process) to speed the customer-specific implementation/optimization audit process. This tuned functional capability list can be altered to create industry specific plans. Finally all elements of the SoftSelect implementation/optimization offering can be customized to blend with your brand and image.

Develop Sales And Marketing Plan:  When decision makers emotionally connect with the risk reduction attributes of your new implementation/optimization offering more sales will be made and better results achieved. We want your sales and marketing team to be absolutely clear about this value proposition so they can rapidly use this knowledge productively. Your marketing materials and other general awareness building programs should make these new attributes clear and your team can quickly leverage marketing and sales resources SoftSelect has developed. SoftSelect per-job intellectual property fees are set at a level that they do not burden new deals. Further, these fees can be marked up by your sales team as an additional revenue source for the company and mechanism to motivate sales personnel to embrace this change. One of the first proposed sales campaigns is to reach out to your existing customers and educate them on the value of optimizing existing software.

Ongoing Program Management And Training:  As with any complex initiative, it takes careful management and attention to maintain momentum and manage change. The program managers mentioned in the first step will be highly involved in this ongoing management activity. Specifically the managers will:

• Work with professional services management to monitor overall health of the program—this is significantly achieved by reviewing standard reports available in the project planning and management application

• Identify need for, and deliver training to new and existing personnel

• Tune the requirement capability profile as your team enhances your offering

• Work with product management on techniques to test new features and capabilities to customers

• Deliver program performance metrics to management

• Introducing new features of SoftSelect’s implementation/optimization management process—since this is our focus we will be tuning and evolving the details of this program to increase its effectiveness and in turn provide further market advantage for vendors who use this process