Sure, it sounds like a great idea when the salesman is telling you about all of the powerful advantages you will have available once you implement the new software. So you take that next step, because whether it’s Call Management, Financial or Business Performance Management (BPM) software application, you want to ensure that your company stays up with the times, supports its customers, increases shareholder value and increases productivity. Yes, it all sounds great in the beginning.

Then it happens, all of the functional areas start to list their requirements. Interestingly the requirements look very similar to the system currently in place. Then the customization begins on the software application. Because it is important to keep the same functionality, right? WRONG! Executive leadership is critical to send the message that the change will be to the new and improved software application which drives better processes.

The more customization that occurs, the more difficult it is for the software company to provide you the latest software updates, because they now need to test and alter the adjustments to work with your customization. Companies would do well to consider simplifying processes to map to the new software application So what typically happens when a company customizes the new solution with major changes? Let’s take a look at the graph on the left from the Business Performance Management magazine May 2006 edition. Here from the article titled “BPM Revealed”, there are three categories identified: those who didn’t customize the software, those who customized a little

and those who customized a lot. Those who didn’t customize their new BPM software application had their expectations met or exceeded by 94%. Those who customized a little had their expectations met 88% of the time. Those who customized a lot had their expectations met just 73% of the time. This would support the notion of less change the better, along with: - Faster implementation - Revised processes - Better customer solution - Improved economics The difficult part for many managers to realize is that they are buying the software because it delivers something that your current software application could not. By customizing the new software application to do what your old software application used to do, guess what? You’ve just implemented your OLD software application. You will have spent thousands to millions of dollars and countless man hours to put a new set of clothes on your old software.

Sadly, this occurs all the time. When it comes time for the investment in a new software application, remember, it is new for a reason. Avoid sweeping customization from the start (Stay Vanilla).

We understand that change isn’t easy. Realize that there will be pushback, but that’s okay. It means that you have people’s attention. That is when executive management can engage them into helping to create the new model. This will require buy-in and support, which accelerates adoption of the new model. Do you have the executive leadership than can drive a vanilla implementation? If so, great success awaits!

contributed by Michael Vigil

Spotlight: Growing the Top Line

The recent business successes can be seen everywhere. The most visible indicator being the stock market's strongest performance ever. Companies are beginning to release the tightened purse strings and the spending machines are fueling top line growth.

Stimulating top line growth entails many aspects including having stronger economies, solid products and services, and being able to seize the window of opportunity. Too often much time is lost trying to determine how to administer or enable the change needed to drive the top line. Thoroughness is required, yet getting folks on board and up to speed seems to take forever.

Along with this new economic upswing comes the powerful reminder of not falling to the excesses of the past. The wounds are still fresh from the workforce cuts, program stoppages, and general chaos from the past four years. So how do you keep the team focused and yet respectful of the past? During this new business revival you should focus on increasing your ability to support your changing needs.

Just a quick look at the recent mergers of major companies and it is easy to see the negative impact of poor change management practices. The overall joint company valuations are a fraction of what was expected. Hence the need to reinvent yourself during times of prosperity in order to create a competitive springboard into the future. Developing skills to facilitate organizational acceptance, adoption, and advancement of any proposition is powerful. Doing it routinely is a competitive advantage.

So why is this still a major challenge today? Perhaps it’s because the many pieces of change management are fragmented. The secret sauce more likely is an integrated blend of activities that bring all the pieces of change management together. The next generation change management solutions are helping companies to institutionalize their new competencies and practices to accelerate their change efforts. This new approach is receiving much attention. Perhaps it's time to understand if it can make a difference for your team.

contributed by Pete Pazmany

Industry Trends

Will Predictive Analytics Be the Next Breakthrough?

According to Professor Tom Davenport of Babson College, the next competitive advantage differentiator could be predictive analytics. The premise is that change at all levels is accelerating so quickly, that after the fact reacting, is both too late and too risky. He concludes that organizations must be proactive and anticipate change – the primary way is through robust quantitative analysis. Due to the massive amounts of economically stored business intelligence, combined with powerful statistical software, previously undetected patterns that can produce reliable forecasts is now feasible.

In a study sponsored by Intel and SAS, Professor Davenport and two of his colleagues studied 32 organizations that were leveraging analytical activity. They found that the highest performers were those that:.

The study concluded that predictive analytics can produce substantial benefits. The companies using it reported double the rate of innovation, competitive advantage and agility compared to those not leveraging predictive analytics.

In conclusion, “Last year, the ability to react to changes in the business rated highly, but dropped in importance this year, replaced with process monitoring.  But the strategic view of EPM is strong, and companies continue to use these investments as a way to manage and guide their businesses forward.”

To read the entire article, go to: http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleID=1060769

contributed by Deborah LeBaker

Product Highlight

Performance measurement is one of the most important aspects of achieving excellence for a company. There are many ways to effectively manage performance. In our experience, one of the best ways is the utilization of a Performance Scorecard. The key advantages of an effective Performance Scorecard are:

This process is known as Closed Loop Corrective Action.  This is an industry term and concept that many companies are striving to adopt.  Any action that is taken to resolve an issue or problem must also have a component of supporting evidence that the issue has been resolved.  MAX Partnering™ provides an easy to implement integrated tool suite that guides users through the processes of Closed Loop Corrective Action management

ASIL’s MAX Partnering™ Software application delivers this and much more. For a full feature description of the Performance Scorecard tool, click here.