Parcel - October 2008 - (Page 35)

company to help bail them out of a hole. If the references are bad, narrow your selection some more. References checked out, you now have some good companies to bring in. Ask them to walk your site identifying any modiﬁcations, enhancements, customizations or conﬁgurations you need. Notice the different acronyms for the same thing. Some companies claim in marketing materials that they don’t make modiﬁcations—they have conﬁgurations. Either way you are changing the software component from base to something that customer service won’t recognize. Highly conﬁgurable software becomes a nightmare to support long term (and usually becomes a consultant’s dream in added revenue on services). Go on site visits to see the software in practice. More than one is usually a good idea. On the beauty pageant days (or demo days), the sales teams are on their best behavior. Advise all of your team to avoid talking to anyone outside of your core team. Software sales teams are trained to divide and conquer and learn what your team thought about pricing, rankings, etc. Usually, they will successfully ﬁnd a mole and be able to tailor their responses to what the team desires. This is a good selling technique but usually not helpful in selecting the best partner. Also, the salesperson, if a good one, will strive to become a good friend of the team, taking them to ballgames, buying dinner, etc. Remember, the salesperson normally goes away at signature of contract, so don’t fall for this game. Software companies make money on license fees and implementation dollars. Do not pick a partner on price. You’ll be sorry. Negotiating the best price with your favorite solution is the best route. Ask for a ﬁxed fee implementation. You’ll be glad you did. Be wary of software that is thrown in at the last hour; if there is a throw-in, ask for implementation dollars also and get them written into the contract. Ask for penalties for a late implementation. Remember, you have a responsibility to make deadlines also. When you select a new partner, it’s like a marriage; communication, respect for each other strengths and collaboration are of the utmost importance. Susan Rider is President of Rider & Associates, specializing in Supply Chain, Operations and Marketing Consulting. She was previously an executive of two of the leading supply chain software companies after over 20 years experience in the material handling industry. Rider is the past-President of WERC and serves on the board of CSCMP, Editorial Advisory Board for Modern Material Handling, Distribution Center Management and University of Louisville Logistics School. Contact her at 270-324-4762 or 847-910-6288, or visit the company online at www.riderandassociates.net. www.PARCELindustry.com October 2008 35 http://www.riderandassociates.net http://www.primevision.com http://www.primevision.com http://www.PARCELindustry.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Parcel - October 2008

Parcel - October 2008 Contents Editor's Note What Would Augello Say? Best Practices Survey Results Going with the Flow Is Your Parcel Network Optimized? Last (Mile), but Not Least Moving From Manual to Automated Fulfillment A Race for Excellence Making Ends Meet Is Your Job Killing You? Software Selection Demystified Controlling Costs On the Mark Product Profile New Products & Services Advertiser Index Wrap Up

Parcel - October 2008

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