Consultant Collaboration Workshop

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Sofware Comparison Services
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Becoming a SoftSelect Consultant Partner

 

In order to sell and deliver enterprise software projects well, consultant facilitators and SoftSelect need to be tightly coordinated. This has been increasingly relevant as the SoftSelect process became more comprehensive and detailed, but more flexible to adapt to specific situations. To help improve coordination in sales and project delivery, SoftSelect conducts a two-day workshop complemented by informal gatherings in the evenings.   Consultant Testimonials

 

 

Some attendees from the April 2005 Workshop


Collaborative Business Delivery and Business Development Workshop

The workshop is typically held in Indian Rocks, FL (about 25 miles from the Tampa International Airport). We rent two beach houses where some workshop participants stay and the evening events are held (see photos below). Other participants stay at a proximate hotel where the workshop is held. This workshop is offered about every six months and the next event is in Indian Rocks (Tampa), FL in the Oct of 2008 time frame. The cost to attend varies depending on your status with SoftSelect.

 

A few participants from the December 2003 business partner workshop right outside the beach house used.

Right on the Beach

 

Workshop Outline

 Day #1: The business environment and SoftSelect's offerings. The major topics presented and discussed are:

 

The business world today and where the SoftSelect offering fits:

  • External forces and trends affecting SoftSelect's offerings, current and pending business models, and collaborative sales and service delivery process.

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    • SoftSelect’s continued transition from software selection centric services to business services (strategic consulting, business process management consulting, solving business problems, etc.)

    • Still a dedicated but more contained and flexible selection offering and building upon the SoftSelect brand name - selection services are a gateway offering

    • Changes and trends with business systems and business process management (BPM)

  • Examples of a number of enterprise software management services and how consultant partners and SoftSelect methods, tools, and business software research/insight support these services.

The Collaborative Service Offering for Software Selection

  • Overview and discussion of better practices in the overall selection process

    • Current and pending SoftSelect framework/tools for managing selection project

    • The increasing obsolescence of classic selection events – and the influence to recent and future changes at SoftSelect

  • In a competitive selection service offering - using the best skills and components from SoftSelect and consultants

  • The following selection process steps are ones we focus upon in the workshop, as they are ones that hold the largest benefit from collaboration with SoftSelect. Based on a particular prospect, some or all listed items will be relevant. For a particular prospect, this support is discussed, designed, and agreed upon before and/or during the development of a services proposal. These steps are:  

    • High-level overview of the full process with executives and selection team

    • Training on SoftSelect process and software tools

    • Setting-up business process mapping event and tools

    • Setting-up planning and management application

    • Discussion of the software strategy and related business process boundary layers (e.g. with a particular client’s process objectives, is ERP going to be enough or does the client need an augmentation, to ERP, to support some aspect of their objectives).

    • Development of one or more long lists

    • Debriefing and discussing the results of the long list(s) to clients

    • Review and tuning of the high-level differentiators (HLDs)

    • QC work in setting up the phase-2 interviews

    • Reviewing results of processing HLDs to candidate vendors

    • Phase-3 negotiation of pricing, terms, and conditions – either strategy or actual interface with vendors

    • Final selection decision issues and drivers

Business Process Visioning and Planning

The level of planning to achieve a confident selection is a portion of the total planning and preparation needed for eventual top-level success when implementing and optimizing business software. The type of planning detailed below is conducted before implementation and conducted by the company implementing.

  • Top-level review and planning:

    • Identification of processes directly and indirectly affected by this initiative. Discuss expectations of the company team and process areas managers on the apparent business processes affected.

    • Assess the type and quality of top-level planning to date.

    • Develop top-level workflow models and estimated business process boundary layers of all affected business applications. Use SoftSelect tools or build upon existing modeling tools and diagrams.

    • Discuss better practices for developing and using management information.

    • Discuss and conduct discovery for better practices and ideas in the business process areas under review.

    • Discuss company flexibility and readiness/resistance to adapt to workflow of a new or existing business software.

  • Establish project/change management structure: Based on initial discovery in top-level planning, discuss how this project should be staffed and controlled. Use SoftSelect tools and/or existing tools.

  • Design and conduct detailed current status discussions and discovery:

    • Assess the type and quality of functional area planning to date.

    • Conduct further discussions of overarching topics that may affect functional areas, as needed.

    • Conduct detailed process interviews with a focus on detecting problems, and improvement opportunities.

    • Start the process to resolve issues discovered.

  • Workflow design: Using all findings from prior discussions/discovery, design the workflow down to the data field level.

  • Alignment audit of the business system being implemented or optimized.

  • Develop final implementation plan.

  • Optimize systems over time.

  • BPM: Set up full and formal business process management.

Day #2:  Collaborative marketing and sales process: This portion of the workshop includes training and discussion on marketing, collaborative selling, and proposing services in which SoftSelect products and services are used.

  • Key concepts and standards about SoftSelect-- related to business development

  • Marketing

    • Target markets

    • Marketing strategy and roles of participants

    • Marketing resources and collaboration

    • SoftSelect/Consultant network brand

  • Lead generation

    • Web visibility of free online enterprise software database

    • APICS relationship

    • Software vendors

    • General reputation

    • Consultant leads

  • Sale process for all selection leads (80% of the day)

    • Review sales process flowchart

    • Key is executive/decision maker contact

    • Selecting project consultants for SoftSelect generated projects

    • SoftSelect lead and sales administration process

    • Educating the prospect

    • SoftSelect IP Pricing and collaborative proposing

    • Competition—differentiation

    • Review and discussion of why SoftSelect and consultant partners loose deals and how to mitigate

  • Effective business planning and change management are critical for eventual success with business software and therefore an opportunity for follow-on sales and increased project scope

    • SoftSelect and consultant partners, on selection projects, generally have a poor record of developing follow-on business – Why?

    • When and how to introduce these appropriate planning services

    • What is enough process visioning and planning in selection projects that stimulates a client's interest to continue

  • The consultant network 

    • Current status and future direction

    • Protecting the interests of top performing consultants

    • Consultant collaboration options through SoftSelect

Note: Workshop participants should have participated in all system use webinars before the meeting or have appropriate recent experience from actual projects.

 

Some attendees from the May 2004 Consultant Partner event