Earlier in the week I referenced a case study that showed the benefits of cloud integration using a cloud based platform as the basis for joining different systems together. This is often cited as the ‘best’ way to expand a functional footprint but it is not the only way.
In the above video, we see how Siemens needed a professional services automation system and selected NetSuite Open Air as the way forward. This was one of the cases I was particularly interested in hearing when visiting London last week because Siemens is one of SAP’s biggest customers and suppliers. You would have thought that SAP would be the natural choice. It turns out that SAP did not have the functionality that Siemens wanted and so this group pushed back.
Implementing the system took some persuasion but the lead team requested that managers come to conference demonstrations with a clear mind rather than a functional requirements list, see how the OpenAir system provides benefit and then discuss how it might be implemented. Today, Siemens is reporting more than 3,000 people on OpenAir.
This has implications for anyone thinking about change. I often hear professionals tell me that the ‘Sage effect’ makes it almost impossible to dislodge the incumbent.
In this case, the SAP system of record is being left intact for the time being because the difficulties in removing it are viewed as overwhelming. Integrating to NetSuite is another matter. That integration allows finance to continue its work while the business does its job. I doubt whether this will prove to be a satisfactory arrangement in the long term. In talking with the speaker after the event, it was clear to me that eventual replacement is a possibility. Not now but in the future.
Here we have a case where the supplier of the system of record was trumped by something that was considered functionally superior. This was about business need rather that directly impacts the ability of a company to organise itself effectively.
PSA is not a new science, I know plenty of vendors that offer this functionality and have case studies going back many a year that talk about benefits derived from resource planning, a topic that should be familiar to any professional services businesses.
What this case is also showing is that rather than being confined to the SME market, cloud computing can be used for business critical functions. Tie this to HR and talent management and you start to see how a suite of cloud apps can transform the ability of a multi-site professional services company to deliver more streamlined services.
