3 Key Steps for Implementing

Enterprise Software Successfully

Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
4
Introduction
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
DEPLOYING A software application is one of the
most importantand challengingtechnological
leaps forward a company can make. Through the
use of centralized and integrated data, enterprise
applications bring consistency across multiple
departments. They help executives understand
how the company is functioning, at both a grand
and granular level, and enable employees to be
more productive.
Its a complex process. Enterprise applications
span departmental boundaries, impacting em-
ployees, the processes and procedures with
which they are familiar, and the companys tech-
nological infrastructure. A successful enterprise
installation requires a multifaceted perspective
accommodating all these areas, and has three
key steps:

n Prior to purchase, secure commitment from
upper-level management because of the
potential nancial and emotional impact.
n During deployment, build a team responsible
for shepherding change through the
organization.
n The third step is perhaps the most challenging
and exciting: you must enhance the application
for competitive advantage, whether through
customization or integration.
This document is designed to help companies of
any size work through this crucial but ultimately
fruitful process, with minimal disruption.
INTRODUCTION
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Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
MOTIVATION TO CHANGE comes from a de-
sire to improve a given situation. In a company,
this relates to operational improvement and
increased employee and institutional efciency.
Enterprise deployments can help companies re-
make and improve multiple processes. ERP ap-
plications, for instance, combine operational and
manufacturing information; supplier relationship
management applications combine inventory,
supply chain, and nancial information; prod-
uct lifecycle management applications combine
R&D, sales, and customer support information.
CH.1 PREPARING FOR CHANGE
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Preparing for Change
To analyze information within or among these
applications requires business intelligence.
These applications create more than incremental
improvement: they deliver a whole new kind of
competitive advantage. Thats why its so impor-
tant to explain to executives what an enterprise
implementation entails, in terms of time, money,
and other resources. When it comes to manag-
ing expectations, transparency is key: make sure
the process is clear, easy to understand, and
communicated throughout.
Gaining Executive Commitment
Traditionally, enterprise implementation propos-
als come from CIOs and IT staff. They have the
clearest perspective on how overarching appli-
cations such as ERP can serve multiple depart-
ments and create consistency. But technologically
savvy C-level executives in nance or operations
also understand the benets that enterprise-wide
applications can bring.
Given the time and money involved in an enter-
prise implementation, it is incumbent upon all
executives, no matter what their department, to
submit strong, clear arguments showing that the
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Preparing for Change
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
benets far outweigh the risks involved in mak-
ing such a substantial change. These arguments
must answer the following questions:
What benets will we derive from application
deployment? The value of an enterprise applica-
tion deployment must be framed in relation to
specic corporate goals. The discussion must be
tailored to the given companys particular situa-
tion, incorporating overarching business objec-
tives and established strategies.
How will it change the way we do business? Set-
ting forth potential scenarios related to increased
efciency is one tactic, but its even more fruitful
to use examples of problems the company has
previously grappled with, and show how they
would have been avoided or reduced had an en-
terprise application been in place. Its important
to emphasize how work will be optimized and
improved, rather than simply changed.
How long is it going to take? Be clear with the
timetable. No executive is going to approve an
open-ended implementation, which is why its
important to establish three-month milestones,
spelling out what aspects of the project will be
completed within them. Note that a complicated
process requires contingency plans, because
while basic operations are the same, each com-
pany also has specic needs that must be ad-
dressed, especially relating to legacy and other
installed applications.
What are the potential alternatives and draw-
backs? Laying out other options, as well as their
costs, benets, and drawbacks, is an easy way
to show why an enterprise implementation is the
best choice. It is more cost efcient to support an
integrated solution than multiple point solutions.
How will it affect our organizational structure?
An integrated data repository eliminates silos
of departmental information. Sharing data, and
understanding how colleagues may look at or
analyze data from different departments, requires
a higher level of collaboration and understanding
between workers. Employees should also be pre-
pared to learn how new work processes and data
ows will affect them.
What other companies either in our industry
or one of our size have done this, and how has
it affected them? To answer this, it is vital to see
and learn from other companies. Choose a ven-
dor that can provide extensive collateral regard-
ing the benets organizations similar to yours,
whether in industry, region, or size, have gained
from enterprise implementations.
It is important to remember that the company
is making a commitment that involves structural
5
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
CIO PLAYBOOK: Preparing for Change
changes in the way employees do their jobs. Ex-
ecutive commitment is crucial, because executives
will be communicating to their departments the
rationale of the decision. Executives must clearly
understand the payoffs so that they can inspire
employee commitment. (Well talk more about
communicating with employees in Chapter 2.)
An extensive array of executive workshops that
help with the initial communication process is
available from services providers. Scheduled at the
behest of the executive sponsors, these workshops
are specically designed not only to communicate
the vision of what an enterprise deployment will
bring, but also to manage expectations of how it
will affect the company and ultimately benet it.
SAP offers a daylong Organizational Change Man-
agement Executive Workshop to help executives
gain a strategic understanding of the SAP solu-
SOURCE: CIO Peer-2-Peer
Panel Quick Poll, June 2009
Get C-level buy-in
Compile a cost-benet analysis
Conduct an IT inventory
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
SURVEY: C-Level Buy-In Critical tion suite. The workshop highlights key features,
benets, and potential impacts. It also discusses
the role C-level executives play in the successful
governance of an enterprise implementation. For
technical executives, there are workshops to help
enhance their understanding of the architecture
of ERP and enterprise applications and how they
will work within or improve a companys techno-
logical infrastructure.
Calculating Budget and
Resource Needs
A second, and equally important, component
of any executive commitment argument is cost.
Start by answering these questions:
How much is it going to cost? Its important to
be clear about the nancial commitment involved
in an enterprise implementation: the initial pur-
chase price; the cost of integrating with existing
third-party or custom applications; and the cost
of services, maintenance, and support.
What are the measurable benets? Provide a
rigorous, high-level perspective that takes into
account all the ways an enterprise application
can benet a company. Spell out potential cost
benets based on anticipated efciencies. One
of the advantages of an ERP implementation, for
instance, is an increased optimization of busi-
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Preparing for Change
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
ness processes over time. Talk about the deeper
insights into customer preferences and patterns
and hidden revenue opportunities unveiled by
CRM. Calculate the time saved by the ability to
respond quickly to changing business conditions.
Finally, ensure the vendor you choose supports
ongoing business optimization.
What staff resources will it require? This is a cru-
cial question, because internal stafng costs out-
live initial application deployment. Its also impor-
tant to account for any resource costs that will be
necessary during the deployment including the
cost of hiring and training internal staff, but also
the cost of consultants and system integrators.
Answering these questions requires a detailed
assessment of your current situation. In addi-
tion to the executive workshops listed previously,
services organizations can help you make these
assessments.
An initial assessment will not provide specic
insight into the total cost of ownership of an
enterprise application, but it will reveal business
processes ripe for improvement. The analysis
offers a preliminary view of what upgraded and
revamped business processes would look like, as
well as their value-add potential. It also calculates
the cost of and delineates the resources neces-
sary for making such changes. Walter Osbelt,
project lead for the ERP implementation at
Voestalpine, a 10.5 billion steel products manu-
facturer based in Linz, Austria, reports that his
company cut its operating costs by 64 percent
after deployment. This means that the project,
including the cost of necessary upgrades, paid for
itself in the space of six months, he says.
Only proposals soundly rooted in contextually
accurate gures can show the benets and risks
of enterprise implementations. Assessments help
C-level executives make informed, insightful deci-
sions about how enterprise applications can sup-
port corporate goals and build a foundation for a
new level of competitive advantage.
After C-level executives commit their support
and a purchase decision is made, a new set of
challenges arises. The next chapter presents
ways companies tackle change management
and highlights how assistance can be most
effectively delivered. n
An initial assessment will not provide specic insight into
the total cost of ownership of an enterprise application,
but it will reveal business processes ripe for improvement.
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Shepherding Change
CHANGE CAN BE DAUNTING, but the fact is
companies inherently seek change on a daily ba-
sis. This takes many forms: companies want more
customers; they want more sales; they want their
employees to be more efcient.
Getting Ready
What makes change daunting is that it is fre-
quently mishandled. Whether in terms of orga-
nization, communication or execution, there are
many ways it can go wrong. Thats why so many
companies set up groups, called program man-
agement ofces (PMOs), to tackle change-related
projects. Like any other deployment a new
assembly line, a product launch an enterprise
implementation benets from a clear structure.
This structure starts with strategic insight, incor-
porates step-by-step guidelines, and then sets up
governance procedures.
STRATEGIC INSIGHT. While enterprise deploy-
ments share commonalities, each company is
unique. In order to gain the most value from the
ERP or other enterprise application, its deploy-
ment must be aligned with a companys strate-
gic goals. This involves a discussion of your top
priorities. Do you want to grow your customer
base, or increase sales to existing customers? Do
you want to optimize the logistics of your supply
chain? Do you want to reduce time-to-market by
increasing design or manufacturing efciencies?
These goals are mapped to the enterprise soft-
ware in order to develop and prioritize a deploy-
ment schedule.
GUIDELINES. Next, you need to create a detailed
map of the project, one that encompasses sched-
ules and resources. This requires a strong foun-
dation in project management. SAP has found
that adherence to the principles set forth by the
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
CH.2 SHEPHERDING CHANGE
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Project Management Institute (PMI) works best.
Incorporate the all-important concept of metrics:
what constitutes success from a quantitative
standpoint? Without a target, you have nothing at
which to aim your resources. Based on your strat-
egy, this can be anything from increased sales to
reduced waste on the factory oor. To track these
metrics, SAP can develop dashboards that deliver
contextual information to anyone from a factory
worker to the CEO.
GOVERNANCE. This is an extremely crucial
concept, especially in a project as far-reaching as
an enterprise deployment. Thats why setting up
a program management ofce can be helpful: as
an impartial organization, it can deal with depart-
mental concerns regarding priorities and business
process changes. The PMO has an overarching
perspective of the project; it should also have in-
uence within the company to institute its plans.
Compiling Initial Assessments
Moving from the strategic to the tactical requires
a different level of focus and insight. A baseline
assessment takes into account available resourc-
es, from the standpoint of both technology and
people. You should also examine your companys
IT resources to ensure you have the manpower
and expertise to support not only initial deploy-
ment but ongoing technical and training main-
tenance and support. Third-party services can
help determine whether you need to augment
your resources.
Change management requires stringent docu-
mentation. The assessment process provides
a clear representation of the infrastructure and
how it got that way, helping ensure fast, accurate
maintenance and monitoring.
In order for IT staff to support deployment and
ongoing maintenance, the assessment should also
provide insight into who needs to be trained and
on what aspects of the system. IT staff with exist-
ing ERP or other application experience can be the
foundation of your rst-tier support; they, along
with services consultants who focus on training,
can educate other members of the IT team.
In an ever-expanding effort, both the IT team and
external training providers such as SAP should
tackle the needs of the end users. Training ses-
What makes change daunting is that it is frequently
mishandled. Whether in terms of organization, com-
munication or execution, there are many ways it can go
wrong. Thats why so many companies set up groups,
called program management ofces (PMOs), to tackle
change-related projects.
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Shepherding Change
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
sions can be tailored for any level of education,
whether focusing on specic departmental so-
lutions or incorporating the broader purposes
of the enterprise application. We didnt face a
single go-live issue around training, said Anne
Tayac, change management lead at Givaudan
S.A., a avors and fragrance company in Vernier,
Switzerland. Everything went smoothly, and ev-
erybody knew how to execute their transactions.
Dening Roles and Responsibilities
An important part of the change management
process involves focusing on those who will be
most affected by new business processes: em-
ployees. In a way, you need to embark on a pro-
gram of gaining employee commitment similar to
the one you used to gain executive commitment.
To ensure training is targeted appropriately and
done successfully, the program management ofce
(in conjunction with vendor consultants serving as
strategic advisors) needs to develop specic roles
and responsibilities for employees. But there must
also be a strong effort to explain how the deploy-
ment is going to affect work as a whole.
That effort should answer these questions:
Whats going to happen? Employees need to
understand that the company is deploying a new
application, one designed to incorporate multiple
currently existing facets: manufacturing, person-
nel, inventory, logistics, and procurement, among
others. The changes they encounter will initially
be unfamiliar, but the application has an underly-
ing logic which creates a more efcient architec-
ture for the company as a whole.
When is it going to happen and how long is it
going to take? Be clear with the timetable, its
milestones, and expectations. Delineate which
departments will be affected in which sequence
and why that sequence was chosen. Note that a
complicated process requires contingency plans,
because while basic operations are the same,
each company also has specic needs that must
be addressed, especially relating to legacy and
other installed applications.
How can I best prepare for this change? Be
straightforward with employees. Let them know
they should be open to new processes and proce-
dures, and that they individually and the compa-
ny as a whole will be more productive in the end.
Inform employees that they must prepare for a
period of transition, but stress that it will include
both training and ample time for questions and
feedback.
This preparation, done properly, achieves mul-
tiple goals. It manages employees expectations
about the impact on their work. More importantly,
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
it shows them how their roles and responsibili-
ties tie into overarching corporate goals. Most
employees approach their work with a singular
focus, because thats how theyre compensated.
But giving them insight into how they contribute
on a wider basis makes them more aware and in-
sightful about how processes are being improved
and can be further improved in the future.
Training and Assessment Services
The best services organizations offer programs,
including initial assessment services and compre-
hensive training, for all elements of the change
management process. They also offer business
transformation services covering a variety of ar-
eas, including:
CIO POLL RESULTS:
Whats the most important thing to do in managing an ERP deployment?
IT STRATEGY AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.
Based on a newly deployed enterprise applica-
tion, what is the optimal enterprise and techni-
cal architecture for your company and how will
it help you leverage the benets of a service-
oriented architecture (SOA)?
BUSINESS PROCESS STRATEGY AND DESIGN.
How can an enterprise deployment help you
adapt or recongure your business processes
to the greatest advantage? This needs to incor-
porate best practices for improving business
processes including accelerating design, estab-
lishing governance, and putting in place ways to
continuously improve them.
STRATEGIC INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.
One of the biggest ways that companies can
derive value from an enterprise application is
through the companywide perspective it offers.
In conjunction with that, however, companies
need a strategy for master data management,
data warehouse, and business intelligence
capabilities.
ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT. The ipside
of obtaining business value is ensuring that the
IT department can easily and efciently support
the enterprise application. Organizational man-
agement services offer best practices related to
application support and reducing total cost of
48%
Understand
business
goals
25%
Set viable
milestones
13%
6%
1% Iron-clad SLAs
7%
Agree upon
success metrics
Understand technical limitations
Other (please specify)
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Shepherding Change
Deriving Competitive
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
ownership. They also focus on minimizing risk
through strategies for effective change manage-
ment after the initial deployment.
VALUE REALIZATION. These specic services
offerings are designed to analyze your companys
particular needs and determine where you can
derive the most value from your deployment.
You can gain strong advantages from having an
outside group handle assessment and training.
Teams that follow best practices and that have
shepherded thousands of companies through
the enterprise implementation process can help
make your implementation as smooth as pos-
sible. SAP Services has developed strong meth-
odologies for transformation. As Hilke Roeder,
project manager for Merz Group Services, a
health and pharmaceutical company in Frankfurt,
Germany, notes, The migration specialists from
SAP had a rm grasp on the issues involved. We
were particularly impressed by their experience,
proven methodologies, and the detailed project
timeline they presented to us.
The next chapter looks at what happens after
initial deployment and how you can use your
new software to develop a strong competitive
advantage. n
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YOUVE ARRIVED AT the most exciting stage of
enterprise software implementation: conguring
your system to deliver competitive advantage.
Much of the work you did in the previous chap-
ters laid the groundwork for this phase. Your
focus on setting forth strategies, and then devel-
oping tactics and metrics to support and mea-
sure them, continues here.
Creating Project-Specic
Roadmaps
Previously, you created a roadmap for your
organizations strategies; now you need to lay
out project-specic roadmaps based on specic
modules within the enterprise application. Just as
before, this requires input and collaboration from
both line-of-business (LOB) employees and the
IT department. LOB employees will key you in to
current business processes and how they can be
improved; IT staff can provide insight into infra-
structure support and integration requirements.
An emphasis on structured project management
continues at this stage. IT staff need to ensure
that modications dont interfere with impor-
tant business cycles. LOB employees should be
told that they may need to offer input above and
beyond their traditional responsibilities. And the
IT department needs to develop a schedule for
conguration, testing, and nal rollout.
The more information an enterprise system can
accommodate, the more valuable it becomes. To
optimize the amount of information, there must
also be work done in three key areas:
CH. 3 DERIVING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
FROM CHANGE
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Deriving Competitive Advantage from Change
Deriving Competitive
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
n integration of other modules
n integration of third-party applications
n custom development
The same structures and processes used in deploy-
ment apply here. Thanks to the development of
service-oriented architectures (SOAs), highly stan-
dardized methods for bringing together dissimilar
software components, the complexity companies
faced in the past has diminished considerably.
With each of these development cycles, though,
the PMO must still emphasize scheduling,
departmental collaboration, and testing. This
ensures that corporate priorities are served and
all those with pertinent roles and responsibilities
clearly understand whats happening and whats
changing. There are added considerations for
the IT department: How will it support these new
systems and business processes? What are key
system performance indicators (e.g., response
time, dashboard parameters)? Just like the
business side, IT has metrics to meet.
Though the conguration and integration phases
encompass a lot of new responsibilities, theres
one more thing to think about: the future. Both
business and IT staff should consider plans and
priorities. Taking into account plans for new busi-
ness processes will help simplify those incremen-
tal changes down the road.
How SAP Helps
SAP has capitalized on its role as the worlds
most experienced enterprise application de-
veloper, creating a solid set of procedures and
best practices that codify all the elements of
a successful enterprise implementation and
third-party integration. The SAP Services team
of consulting services specialists has extensive
experience. Combining both industry and tech-
nological insight, SAP is uniquely positioned to
help any company deal with the most challeng-
ing enterprise installation.
Using best practices that have been developed
over time is the key to managing the many piec-
es of an enterprise installation. This is where the
Accelerated SAP (ASAP) methodology comes in.
Carefully phased and highly process-oriented,
its designed to both streamline implementation
projects and minimize disruption and risk.
ASAP incorporates a detailed set of templates,
tools, questionnaires, and checklists. For the IT
IT staff need to ensure that modications dont interfere
with important business cycles. LOB employees should
be told that they may need to offer input above and
beyond their traditional responsibilities.
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Deriving Competitive
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
staff specically, there are technical guidebooks
and accelerators that help speed up the congu-
ration process. Using the information derived
from the ASAP process, the SAP Services team
can create plans (using the SAP Solution Com-
poser) and develop roadmaps for specic project
needs (using SAP Roadmaps).
The information also feeds into SAP Solution
Manager, which helps underpin support not only
for the initial implementation, but for future up-
grades and ongoing enhancements as well. SAP
Solution Manager also tracks third-party product
interfaces. And since ASAP incorporates standard
PMI concepts, companies can implement proj-
ects faster (with time savings of up to 50%), less
expensively, more reliably, and with lower risk.
Other Development and
Support Services
The SAP Services team offers multiple ways to
help your company take advantage of your new
enterprise software system. They have extensive
experience in custom development, helping com-
panies extend their enterprise applications with
state-of-the-art capabilities. These capabilities
include the development and prototyping of SOA-
based applications, using SAP NetWeaver technol-
ogy. With the implementation of SAP NetWeaver
7.0, we will now achieve integration with third-
party systems and provide direct, round-the-clock
access for our supply network of pharmaceuticals
distributors and retailers in India, says Saby-
asachi Thakur, CIO for Mumbai-based All Indian
Origin Chemists & Distributors Ltd.
SAP provides training workshops for IT staff so
they can take over future development. The SAP
Solution Manager application helps companies
manage upgrades and other implementations.
Thanks to the conguration information stored
in SAP Solution Manager, and a strong process-
driven approach to new projects, you can deploy
and support new business processes and capa-
bilities faster and more efciently.
CIO POLL RESULTS:
Whats the most important thing to do to derive a competitive advantage
from ERP applications?
37%
Assure user access
to actionable busi-
ness information
33%
Focus on data
quality and
accessibility
10%
6%
5%
Never customize ERP
9%
Ensure vendors applications
already work together
Follow vendors integration
guidelines
Other (please specify)
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Deriving Competitive
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Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
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The SAP Application Integration Service helps
customers develop and deploy efcient busi-
ness processes, no matter how distributed or
complex their application infrastructure is. SAP
Safeguarding for Integration Validation combines
tools and support expertise to ensure that inte-
gration projects provide maximum investment
value and minimum risk. When HSH Nordbank
AG, a 207 billion German bank, deployed SAP,
it chose SAP Safeguarding. It was the only sup-
port engagement able to offer the kind of spe-
cialized technical expert knowledge we needed,
says project manager Stefan Jckel.
SAP Enterprise Support is a combination of
services, tools and methodologies that provide
you with the assurance that your SAP software
remains stable and operational. SAP Enterprise
Support is designed to help you take full ad-
vantage of the integration of SAP and non-SAP
solutions, minimize risk, maintain business
continuity, enable innovation and address solu-
tion lifecycle management.
Information between SAP and its customers
ows both ways. SAP Services recently worked
with its SAP User Group Executive Network to
develop a list of key performance indicators
that will be used to measure the success of SAP
Enterprise Support services, particularly in the
areas of business continuity, business process
improvement, investment protection, and reduc-
ing total cost of operations.
Getting SAP Services involved with customiza-
tion and integration projects pays off in multiple
ways. While your team brings insight into your
companys strategic and tactical needs, as well
as your industry, the SAP Services team brings
extensive experience and insight into best prac-
tices for efcient and effective deployment. Its
a collaborative effort that results in a solution
crafted for your companys specic advantage.
The Foundation of Success
After an enterprise application implementation,
your company can and should be different.
You should have better insight into information,
greater exibility and agility regarding operations,
and more competitive advantage overall. An enter-
prise implementation is a strong foundation on
which your company can support and deploy new
and innovative businesses processes and achieve
its strategic goals. You will then be able to develop
new strategic goals to constantly improve, per-
haps through growth or acquisition. Competitive
advantage is a constantly evolving target.
As you move forward, either through enterprise
system upgrades or corporate growth, you can
return to the guidelines and best practices out-
lined in this document and by your SAP Services
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CIO PLAYBOOK: Deriving Competitive Advantage from Change
consultants. The tenets they put forth promot-
ing technical competence, communication, and
collaboration work as well in incremental situ-
ations as they do in initial implementations. The
insights you gain can become part of your com-
panys institutional memory, creating a corporate
culture of continuous improvement.
SAP Services offers a variety of assessment,
consulting, and support services to accom-
modate companies in each phase of deploy-
ment. These services can be easily congured to
provide appropriate insight no matter what the
deployment: full enterprise application, other
business software, or upgrade. n
TABLE: THREE STEPS TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Step Elements Goal
Preparation
Set expectations for executives
and employees; gain clear under-
standing of how business pro-
cesses can be improved and how
individual roles might change
Clear understanding of strategic
and tactical intent; strong de-
partmental collaboration based
on corporate needs
Implementation
Software deployment, congura-
tion, integration with other appli-
cations; training of employees;
precise internal communications
Establish foundation for cross-
corporate workows and busi-
ness processes that increase
efciency and insight
Optimization
Establish metrics to audit pro-
cesses, conrm benets, and
identify potential incremental
changes as work progresses
Continuous improvement
and maintaining competitive
advantage
Deriving Competitive
Advantage from Change
Shepherding Change Preparing for Change
34
Syndicated
Articles
17
Most organizations use only 64 percent of their
enterprise systems core functions, according to a
recent Accenture survey.
About half said they dont need all the capabilities
while a fth explained that they didnt make use
of all the functionality due to lack of time to learn
how to apply them, said Accenture.
The survey, which polled 300 senior IT profession-
als in UK and US at large enterprises, found that
around one third (37 percent) of UK rms - and 27
percent of US companies - have little or no data
sharing with their customers.
UK rms also lag behind their US counterparts in
terms of usage and adoption of enterprise sys-
tems, and appear more skeptical about the impact
of web 2.0, software as a service (SaaS), and
service oriented architecture (SOA).
For instance, 15 percent in North American rms
said that emerging technologies will replace
almost all of their current enterprise systems com-
pared to only seven percent in the UK. Still, most
respondents believe new technologies will replace
more than half of current enterprise systems.
Overall, 87 percent said they would increase or
continue with spending on enterprise systems,
including the use of new technologies like SaaS.
Most senior IT professionals see the value offered
by their organizations enterprise systems in terms
of enabling them not only to manage core busi-
ness processes, but to distinguish themselves
from their competitors, said Jeremy Oates, UK
head of systems integration and technology con-
sulting, Accenture.
While for some, a traditional perspective of enter-
prise resource planning (ERP) systems as mono-
lithic and inexible still persists, three of every
four senior IT professionals believe enterprise
systems provide a competitive advantage and
strategic value for their organizations.
For those organizations that have been expanding
their systems and making strategic investments by
honing in on the business processes they support,
now is the time to work those investments even
harder, concludes Oates.
All contents IDG 2007 n


How to Establish a
Project Management
Ofce When Your
Company Doesnt
Want One
What do you do when the
business partners you are
trying to help think PMO
stands for painful meaningless
overhead? You go stealth.
By Thomas Cutting
Your position has been overrun. Trapped behind en-
emy lines with hostiles lying in wait to expose you,
your only option is to go to ground, become part of
the crowd. Even allies from previous missions are
attempting to thwart your every move. Hidden in
the masses, you press forward, attempting to nish
the mission. Is it time to surrender to the chaos
or struggle on, collecting your paycheck until that
perfect job offer appears? Or do you persevere?
You will not surrender! Yes, you may be outnum-
bered, outgunned and weary to the bone, but you
know there is a better way to manage your project,
your sponsor and the business. Begin an under-
ground movement to develop a covert project
management ofce.
The purpose of a PMO is to bring people, processes
and technology together to consistently deliver
quality results. But what can you do when the peo-
ple you are trying to protect (management, busi-
CIO PLAYBOOK: Syndicated Articles
Syndicated Articles
34
Companies Use Only Two-Thirds of ERP
System Functionality
Most organizations use only 64 percent of their enterprise
systems core functions, according to a recent Accenture survey.
By Computerworld UK staff
18
CIO PLAYBOOK: Syndicated Articles
Syndicated Articles
34
ness or customer) think PMO stands for painful
meaningless overhead? Its time to go STEALTH.
Set your vision. When things are darkest, night-
vision goggles can allow you to focus, but without
a target, theyre useless. What are the pain points
that must be destroyed? Are projects dragging on
indenitely and missing their mark? Do require-
ments show up like land mines during user-
acceptance testing? Reconnoiter the business,
discover users complaints, and set your vision to
eliminate them. Liberate the business, and you
will have strong allies.
Test the environment. Search for hidden allies who
can help your cause. If you are under re, chances
are other project managers are engaged in simi-
lar battles. Management may be ready for a new
approach. Begin recruiting others to support your
vision. Let them help sharpen it.
Establish your objectives and plan. Sketch out
your attack strategy. How are you going to accom-
plish your vision? What steps will be needed? Lay
out an aerial view of the endgame. Does it have
processes to manage change, issues and risk? Do
you see templates for status, metrics to measure,
a communication plan? Remember, this is a covert
operation. Attacking too many places at once may
give away your position. Give the plan time.
Agree on standards. Identify a consistent ap-
proach for doing business. Issue management is
an easy target to start with. Dene a recording and
tracking method. Risks might be next. A proactive
risk management approach can eliminate future
issues. These targets should not be difcult to ap-
proach. No need to publicly identify them. Snipers
dont advertise their operations.
Leave it exible. Be consistent without becoming
rigid. Forcing a mission when resistance is high
only gets people killed. If one area prefers e-mail
status reports over Word documents, make sure
both methods cover the same key topics. Dont
ght an immovable force, and never blow up a
bridge you may need to cross again.
Train project participants. But dont hold a class
or give a lecture; be subtle. Make suggestions. Ask
leading questions. Plant ideas. Lead your team,
your manager and the business to do projects the
way you want them to. Act consistently and per-
form professionally, making them expect the best
of you. Set reasonable and attainable expectations
of them, raising their expectations of themselves.
Start to win their hearts and minds.
Help others embrace the vision. Success is the
best propaganda. You dont need to trumpet your
achievements; people will start noticing. Create
and use metrics to show improvements. Share
your successes with others, and show how your
approach can work for them, too. Share the vision,
and get them involved in it.
In the end, there may be no heros medals. The
chaos may only be pushed back for a time. But
here and now, you can make a difference as a
secret agent of change.
Cutting is a certied Project Management Profes-
sional and owner of Cuttings Edge. Contact him at
Thomas@CuttingsEdge.com.
This version of the story originally appeared in
Computerworlds print edition.
2007 Computerworld Inc n
SAP: BI Tool Will
Help Create clear
Enterprises
Companies must achieve
clarity to navigate out of
the global recession and SAP
intends to help them with its
BI (business intelligence) and
ERP (enterprise resource plan-
ning) software, co-CEO Leo
Apotheker said during the
opening keynote of SAPs
Sapphire conference in Orlando
Tuesday. By Chris Kanaracus
Companies must achieve clarity to navigate out
of the global recession and SAP intends to help
them with its BI (business intelligence) and ERP
(enterprise resource planning) software, co-CEO
Leo Apotheker said during the opening keynote of
SAPs Sapphire conference in Orlando Tuesday.
The only antidote against uncertainty is clarity,
he said.
Apothekers 75-minute address focused heavily
on a new BI application called BusinessObjects
Explorer, which is supposed to help average busi-
ness users easily navigate and mine company data
without the help of IT staff.
Were not just talking about a reporting tool,
Apotheker said. I am convinced it will fundamen-
How to Establish a Project Management Ofce When Your Company Doesnt Want One continued
19
CIO PLAYBOOK: Syndicated Articles
Syndicated Articles
3
tally change the way decisions are made in enter-
prises around the world. ... Were going to be able
to cross the chasm from, I think this is a good
decision to I know this is a good decision.
In a demonstration, SAP showed how users could
make natural-language queries to search for
information about the rate of head injuries in car
accidents during a certain period. Users can drill
down into the results to view statistics for certain
age groups, for example, as well as view it in vari-
ous formats, such as pie charts.
The Explorer tool combines the Polestar technolo-
gy SAP acquired by buying Business Objects, with
SAPs NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator
software. It represents the rst huge salvo in a
strategy to push BI to all users in a company, said
John Schwarz, CEO of the Business Objects portfo-
lio, in an interview.
SAP plans to make Web 2.0-style interfaces like
the one for Explorer pervasive across its applica-
tions, said Marge Breya, executive vice president
and general manager, Intelligence Platform Group
and SAP NetWeaver Solution Management, during
a press conference Tuesday. The company plans
to make more announcements in coming months,
she said, but she did not elaborate.
Also, Business Objects sizable Oracle customer
basewhich Breya said has traditionally repre-
sented 70 percent of its businesscannot yet
fully gain the levels of Explorer performance dem-
onstrated at Sapphire. Thats because SAP wont
be releasing an open accelerator compatible
with Oracle software until later this year, Breya
said. Of course, Explorer itself as a tool works on
Oracle today, she added.
Meanwhile, one SAP customer who has been beta
testing Explorer gave it a general thumbs up, albeit
with a few caveats.
Food manufacturer Sara Lee has connected the
software to a sandbox that contains 300 million
rows of data, and despite the scope of the data
store, performance has been strong, said Vincent
Vloemans, director of global information manage-
ment.
Also, the preliminary response among Sara Lees
business users has been very positive, he said.
Im getting questions like When can we have it.
But Sara Lee has not yet decided to purchase the
software, and there are substantial underlying
tasks to perform as well, he added.
This is giving us the horsepower [to analyze data]
but we need to have harmonized and structured
data underneath it.
The company also hasnt done a deep investigation
into security measures or protocols, he said.
But the tool does seem to have some clear posi-
tives, according to Vloemans. For one, it doesnt
require much training. If you can use a PC then
you can learn how to use it in one or two minutes.
Secondly, Sara Lee has a broad BI strategy, and
making changes to respond to user demands, such
as for a new type of report, is costly, he said.
Vloemans said he has a gut feeling, but is not
yet certain that Explorer could cut expenses over-
all, even weighed against the cost of preparing
the data to be searched by Explorer.
Meanwhile, Apothekers keynote also briey
touched upon SAPs plans for on-demand soft-
ware, which include Web-based extensions for its
on-premise business applications. Extensions for
expense management and human capital manage-
ment are in the pipeline, he said.
SAP is also continuing to work on its Business
ByDesign integrated ERP suite for the midmarket.
The company has slowed the rollout of Business
ByDesign while it works to ensure it can make
enough of a prot at scale. SAP executive board
member Bill McDermott said in a recent interview
that the company would likely not ramp up Busi-
ness ByDesign until the end of this year.
However, a running Business ByDesign system will
be on display at Sapphire this week, according to
Apotheker.
Copyright 2008 IDG News Service. All rights
reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of
International Data Group, Inc. n