This page provides additional information to better
understand the capabilities of the CERTES GROUP. Included here is a short white
paper on Product Lifecycle Management and a few
case studies.
Case
Studies
"e-Services" " Internet " " Software " "
Systems "
Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM)
INTRODUCTION
Organizational stress and
rapid change brought on by broader product lines and increasing competition, complexity,
and customer expectations have caused many companies to become bogged down by
long, painful product cycles that fail to meet goals. Some industry sources
estimate that product development project failures are running as high as 50%.
The bottom line impact of
these failures can be staggering. Industry sources estimate poor quality costs
the average
- Lack of competitive and customer information paralyzes
decision-making.
- Projects are started prematurely with only a very fuzzy
idea of the desired outcome.
- There are no clear goals for determining if the project
is successful.
- The ultimate customer cannot be identified and is not
adequately represented in the front-end process.
- Surprises when important tasks are forgotten or not
identified.
- Miscommunication - "Nobody told
- Marketing, product development, manufacturing, and the
customer have different, conflicting agendas.
- Communications among distributed development teams is
ineffective.
- Adversarial we/they relationships, finger pointing,
blame, and lack of cooperation.
- Lack of visibility on cost of goods, expenses and schedules.
- Buying and integrating quick solutions costs more and
takes longer than expected.
- Sales and profits short of goals due to late, cancelled
or prematurely announced products.
- Quality, service, support, feature, or performance
failures causing customer defections.
- Products are inconsistent with company strengths and
strategy.
- Lost momentum due to low morale and the loss of key
people.
- The product is forced out of the developers into the
hands of the customer with inadequate testing, training and support.
You are not alone if you
are encountering some of these problems. We have seen various combinations of
these characteristics in many companies. These problems do not need to be
overwhelming. There are techniques and approaches that are quite effective in
providing workable solutions to these problems. They can be readily adapted to
a specific situation and do not need to incur a lot of overhead.
WHAT IS NEEDED
Your company needs the
certainty of attaining marketing, financial and technical goals with its
product programs. Individuals contributing to the programs need experiences
they would willingly repeat on future programs - autonomy and freedom from
bureaucracy, cooperation, communications, support, flexibility to make rapid
mid-course corrections to meet goals, and the satisfaction of winning.
Real-world experiences with
start-up, growth and transitional organizations have taught us a lot about what
it takes to produce successful products. Working harder is only part of the
answer. It is also necessary to work smarter, and this requires a company wide
way of thinking, behaving, and executing. Some characteristics of 'working
smart' are:
- Products are market driven - there is a clear vision of
the customer and his requirements. If a customer cannot be identified, the
project is not ready for development.
- Customers, direct and indirect, are part of the team
from the beginning. Everyone understands that their output is directed to
a customer.
- Component level thinking is replaced with product level
thinking, as all activities affecting the success of the product in the
customer's hands are considered.
- Strategic information is gathered on competitors,
technology, standards, and regulatory trends that may impact the project.
- Company vision, strategies, and tactics are actively
communicated to provide a common agenda for execution.
- Plans throughout the organization are aligned with the
common agenda.
- Planning is heavily weighted toward the front-end of
the cycle. Top management and all affected departments are involved.
- The project's success factors are identified. Critical
path items are identified and constantly reviewed. Both are used to focus
priorities.
- Communications and reviews are frequent, timely and
relevant. Information and decision meetings record critical decisions and
the reasons why they were made. Summaries are widely communicated.
- Guidelines are developed to describe the tasks in each
phase of the life cycle and the method for progressing from one phase to the
next. All parties understand what they are to produce, when they are to
produce it, and to whom they are to deliver it.
- Life cycle processes are constantly improved to
eliminate time consuming steps that contribute no value, empower decision
making close to the affected process, obtain parallel execution of
departments, save time in and smooth hand-offs.
- Lines between departments are blurred and members
cooperate rather than engage in time-consuming, arms length
stimulus-response negotiations.
- Program/project management methodologies are based on
team-member participation, buy-in, measurement and accountability.
- Goal setting and results measurement, while the product
is developed and after it is shipped, are established to provide feedback
for quick corrective action.
HOW WE CAN HELP
The CERTES GROUP can help
establish a smart mode of operation. We blend marketing, operational, and
technical management experiences to provide a corporate view to managing all
phases of the life cycle - idea, feasibility, development, introduction, and
maintenance/support. With a global, top management perspective we area able to
work with personnel throughout an organization to review its current needs,
design pragmatic programs to meet those needs, implement them in pilot tests,
and guide them through general deployment. Complementary hands-on experiences
allow us to zoom in on the details and ask the right questions when required.
The programs recommended
are unique to specific circumstances and directed to solving specific problems.
Based on the organization's values, environment, methods and procedures, skill
sets, and the resources available, they will address any and/or all aspects of
the product life cycle - from the product idea to the delivery:
- Defining strategy, markets, customers, products,
distribution channels and support programs
- Determining product function, compatibility,
performance, reliability, support of industry and regulatory standards,
cost of goods and ROI
- Requirements for manufacturing, support and maintenance
- Development, prototype construction, testing,
pre-production runs and beta shipments
- Training of factory, support and sales personnel
- Third party management, documentation, sales/marketing
literature and media/promotion materials
- Program and project plans, on-going sales, delivery and
support
- End of life planning and execution
The client's staff will
generally carry out the implementation. We participate as advisors,
facilitators or hands-on managers to achieve optimal product life cycle
results. Whether formulating and initiating new product programs or
revitalizing existing ones we are dedicated to the client's success, the
success of their people, and to their self-sufficiency.
HOW THE CLIENT BENEFITS
A properly applied PLM process
uses pragmatic solutions customized to your specific needs to achieve tangible
bottom line results. Adopting a low overhead PLM process can significantly
improve your operations by:
- Improving communications
throughout the organization.
- Defining the role of each
organizational element during each phase of the process – each knows
what they are to deliver and to whom as well as knowing what they are to
receive and from whom.
- Defining the criteria for
moving from one phase to the next – what must be accomplished and
who must approve it has occurred.
- Improving product and market
requirements.
- Improving product
specifications.
- Identifying the few critical
tasks that have maximum schedule impact.
- Identifying indeterminate
tasks that can be schedule killers.
- Eliminating time consuming
handoffs.
- Eliminating tasks that do not
add real value.
- Shortening development
cycles.
- Lowering development costs.
- Lowering organizational
stress.
- Improving on-time delivery.
- Increasing product quality.
- Increasing customer
satisfaction.
- Lowering maintenance costs.
We can help you achieve the
confidence and certainty of being in control and to develop the skills and
experiences that can be applied to future programs.
Requirement
The founding team's
business model of selling banner ads with the delivery of Yellow Pages was not
meeting goals and the company needed to be re-started with a new business
model.
Solution
CERTES GROUP was engaged to
replace the COO and build the operations team required to execute the new
business plan.
- Developed a plan to implement new business model.
- Identified source and negotiated acquisition of new
accounting system.
- Identified source and negotiated acquisition of
software to manage multiple-level sales organization.
- Identified source and negotiated contract to place
Internet servers with co-location service.
- Defined production flow and tools needed for producing
large number of web sites.
- Identified outside resources to assist with web site
production.
- Defined processes for billing and collections.
- Recruited web site production staff.
- Recruited staff to support sales organization.
- Recruited IS staff.
- Assisted with recruiting of CTO, CFO, VP Marketing, and
VP Operations.
- Made monthly presentations at board meeting.
Requirement
The founders of this
privately held software company wanted to change the focus of the company from
custom software development to standard products for popular industry
platforms, but needed assistance in making the transition.
Solution
CERTES GROUP was engaged to
analyze existing sales/marketing teams, define changes to them, and provide the
VP Marketing role.
- Developed re-organization plan and gained board
approval.
- Reconciled revenue with expenses leading to downsizing.
- Established budgetary and expense control procedures.
- Improved P&L procedures for revenue and expense
forecasts.
- Surveyed market and identified need for new,
complementary products.
- Initiated relationships to acquire complementary
products and improve time to market over in-house solutions.
- Replaced ad agency and hired PR agency to align MARCOM
efforts with product direction.
- Improved the communications to the developer/reseller
channel.
- Increased support of European office to double sales.
- Instituted improved processes for customer support and
their interface to development.
- Resulting changes helped significantly in positioning
the company for sale, thereby allowing the owners to cash-out.
Requirement
A domestic company with a
wholly owned offshore subsidiary in
Solution
CERTES GROUP was engaged by
the Board of Directors to provide the President/COO role, help secure financing,
and move the company out of its startup phase.
- Repositioned products and services.
- Developed marketing plan with consistent vocabulary and
messages.
- Developed business and operations plans.
- Developed investor presentations.
- Determined cost/pricing models for products and
services.
- Consolidated multiple offshore facilities for greater
efficiency, improved recruiting, and greater customer credibility.
- Developed budgetary procedures which front-ended GAPP
compliant financial reports.
- Developed Product Management processes.
- Staffed CFO, VP Business Development, VP Sales, and
Director MarCom positions.
- Made investor and BOD presentations.
- Established credibility with funding sources and gained
increased commitments for funding.
Requirement
Company had tentative
agreement with partner to build proprietary hardware and software for a secure,
information metering application, but needed additional study before committing
to permanent staffing.
Solution
CERTES GROUP was engaged to
provide Program/Project management services during the incubation period.
- Met with partner to review business plan, market
requirements, and product requirements and discovered they were inadequate
or didn't exist.
- Developed market and product requirements leading to
significant changes in the firmware and software.
- Worked with partner to define the division of labor and
the management of the program that had multiple development sites around the
country.
- Developed project plan.
- Recruited staff to implement the on-chip and desktop
software.
- Worked with partner to define the back-end transaction
processing systems.
- Effort then transitioned to another partner wanting to
use the technology in a DVD based, set-top box application.
- Worked with them on the requirements for their business
model.
- Developed project plan to meet these requirements.
- Received large order from them.