When a project loses its sponsor - selling the business benefits of an application to an un-receptive sales manager - Case Study

MIDWAY INTO A SALES AUTOMATION PROJECT, THE NEW SALES MANAGER WANTS THE CIO TO ABANDON THE EFFORT. SHE WOULD RATHER INTERACT WITH THE FIELD SALES PEOPLE THAN WITH A COMPUTER. HOW CAN THE CIO 'SELL' THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF THE APPLICATION?

As CIO at New World Corp., George Danelli enjoyed full participation in the company's executive comrmttee meetings. He liked his work. Most of the firm's executives were enthusiastic users of either DOS/Windows or Macintosh-based applications, so he had little difficulty "selling" the benefits of technology-centered investment to the rest of the management team.

Under Danelli's leadership, NWC has restructured its entire IS organization. A corps of central administration and operations staff supported the company's mainframe-based production systems. This corps also cooperated with technical staff working directly in NWC's various functional departments. Each group shared responsibility for application development and maintenance. Many of the departmental computing professionals had come out of the larger central IS organization.

About half of the firm's production applications were running on terminalbased systems, with the balance on intelligent workstations (some operating in terminal emulation mode). As necessary, Danelli organized the formation of small, multidisciplined project teams for new development activities. Those teams typically had a senior management sponsor who focused on maximizing the business impact of a new project.

Late in the last fiscal quarter, and midway through an important sales automation project, Ricardo Cortez, the senior sales management sponsor, unexpectedly passed away.

His replacement was a top-notch sales executive who came from outside the firm. P. Jane Rogers had worked for one of New World's largest competitors, Iroquois Valley Consolidated. Unlike Cortez, though, she had no interest in carrying on a development role. She had never even used a computer.

Danelli set up a meeting with Rogers through her administrative assistant, a capable young woman named Martha Goings who had worked with Rogers at Iroquois, and came along when Rogers moved. Goings seemed eager to move up the technology learning curve.

Rogers provided a sharp contrast as the meeting began. 'We have too many loose ends to wrap up on the sales side," Rogers said. "I've got to get a handle on my sales staff, on key account status and the sales pipeline. I don't have time to fool around with this project. I have to talk with my sales people. You'd better find somebody else," she told Danelli.

Danelli was stunned. Cortez had championed the sales automation project over the objections of some of the senior field sales people. Now, without Rogers' support, it looked doomed. Ironically, the project team was prepared to release one of the early modules to test. It was designed to extend the existing sales contact management system with an account status reporting function.

Danelli did not want to lose the investment he and the development team had made in the project. He felt that if he could demonstrate to Rogers how the technology could help her communicate more effectively with the field, he would be much better off. But, he had to develop a plan that would appeal to her.

What should Danelli do to get Rogers' support? And, how can he encourage her active participation in future development efforts?0

John P. Tedesco, Nynex Corp.

Director MIS, Telesector Resources Group

THINK LIKE 'BUSINESS ENABLER'

CIO Danelli never had to sell New World Corp. executives on the benefits of technologycentered investments. Their own experiences allowed them to link the use of this technology to the accomplishment of their business goals. Now, however, he must work with P. Jane Rogers, who does not share this experience.

As a successful executive, Rogers is strongly motivated to accomplish her goals. Danelli's immediate task is simple. He must convince Rogers that the use of the proposed technology investment will help meet her goals better than any alternative.

Danelli has a limited window of opportunity to respond before Rogers' resistance substantially impacts the project. Fortunately, she has stated her priority issues.

Danelli quickly needs to determine how closely the account status reporting function module conforms to Rogers' requirements for key account status. He should check with his team and their contacts in the sales organization. If the module does not conform, he must find out how soon they can adapt it to her needs.

Once they have defined a pilot application, Danelli needs to package this functionality into a customized demonstration for Rogers. The demo should show how the project can help her accomplish the goals she has established. Once he has her interest, he needs to press his team to deliver results promptly and accurately to gain her confidence. In essence, he needs to orchestrate his short-term development efforts according to Rogers' priorities.

On a longer-term basis, however, Danelli needs to investigate the objections of the senior field sales people. Development efforts need to address the issues users raise. A successful client/server application mandates the full support and cooperation of the local staff and users. Danelli's proposal to Rogers must also be sensitive to user concerns.

The key issue here is whether the current information systems organization has the necessary skills to implement client/server solutions effectively. References to NWC's computing environment, together with the makeup of the systems organization, indicate an emphasis on mainframe-based applications.

The critical success factors for system development and deployment are different for mainframe-based solutions than for client/server solutions. For example, mainframe systems are typically top-down solutions, characterized by extreme discipline in data entry and utility. They are also usually terminal-based. Mainframe applications tend to be well-defined before implementation, making them difficult to modify because of the investment involved.

Client/server systems typically allow for a more flexible interaction between users and the database. Client/server applications are better suited to keep pace with the dynamic decision-making needs that exist at local levels, such as in a sales channel organization. This benefit, however, puts a premium on the time between initial user need identification and completion of prototype development.

To adapt to the distributed environment of client/server applications, traditional mainframe-trained systems personnel need to acquire new skills. They need to reorient their thinking from "technical specialists" to "business enablers."

Indeed, Danelli needs to show Rogers the enabling aspect of his technology investment proposal. A technology investment for technology's sake obviously has no relevance to Rogers, or for that matter to NWC.

Danelli should also take this opportunity to outline his vision of the uses and benefits of information technology investments for NWC. He should present his strategy for implementation and obtain concurrence from the other executive team members. Finally, the executive team should share these approved plans with everyone in the company.

Dr. Lani Spund, Apple Computer, IS&T

Chief Technologist

Alberto Yepez, Apple Computer ESD

Manager

DEMONSTRATE VALUE TO USERS

The issue Danelli faces is political, not technical. New World Corp.'s senior field sales force sees no value in the systems project and neither does P. Jane Rogers, Danelli's new prime sponsor. If he does not perform damage control immediately, this predicament could limit his career. However, the situation is not as bleak as it looks.

Clearly, Rogers knows her key information needs. She has explicitly told Danelli she needs key account information and a daily look at sales in the pipeline. This includes prospective bookings, actual bookings, backlog and billings. The beta version of the new system provides this.

Unfortunately, it seems that Rogers is used to getting her information from other people, rather than by interacting directly with enterprise systems. Her reluctance to do so may have resulted from a prior experience with a rigid, arcane legacy system. Convincing her to learn and embrace any system now could be very difficult. We believe Danelli can overcome her objections to the new system by giving her what she wants through her people.

Assuming that Danelli knows his users, the system undoubtedly has an intuitive GUI interface and a brilliant design requiring little or no training. If so, Danelli is in luck, because he can directly demonstrate the value of this system to the field sales force.

Our recommendation is to position the system as a humble enabling tool focused on supporting the sale team's information consumption needs. Danelli must show value by providing something they need now. Fortunately, Rogers already told Danelli what the sales force will be clamoring to produce for her at next week's sales conference. He should focus on providing key account status and sales channel sell-through in the pipeline.

We also suggest that he lead from behind this time. Danelli should not confront Rogers directly until he has done the following:

First, he should meet with the most resistant senior sales persons and discuss his understanding of their boss's "hot buttons." He should also ask them if they feel comfortable with the timeliness and accuracy of the information they are getting today. If they say "yes," then Danelli probably has no ROI on this project, and it may be unnecessary. However, Danelli knows they are in a sink hole and are probably afraid to admit it.

Danelli's second step is to drop the hint that the sales information system is about to ship. He should tell them that they could use the system now for some limited analysis and decision support about the very subject they need.

In fact, they can use the key accounts and order pipeline now, in the field, using their existing notebook computers and wireless commumcations from the car or hotel room. On his own notebook computer, Danelli could show them exactly what Rogers might want to see in next week's sales conference ! The third step for Danelli is to remember Rogers' assistant. Goings loves the computer set-up he gave her and she is not afraid of it. So, Danelli should leverage her willingness to "play" with the technology. He should install the system on Goings' desktop using a screen saver application to display current order backlog by region, as well as current stock price. Danelli should then show Goings how to identify and report key account status, sales trends and sales channel sell-through. He can point out the graphics and how the system can instantly turn dumb data into meaningful information. He must then make sure that she can easily execute the things he showed her via a customized button or menu option that provides seamless access to the data. She can now pull the reports on demand.

Danelli's next step is asking Goings to pull the report and put it on Rogers desk every morning. He should ask her to start immediately and to continue after the sales conference, unless Rogers asks her to stop.

Finally, Danelli should lay low and let nature take its course. In the worst case, the sales force will tell him how terrible the new system is, and what they want changed. That's exactly what Danelli wants from a business user and sponsor. It is the sign that they are involved and beginning to take ownership.

Of course, if the beta version has a poor human interface requiring lots of training, or if the system is not very flexible in how the data is "sliced" and presented, these steps will backfire. An inadequate system will reinforce users' fears ofunfriendiy PCs and systems in general.

We feel confident, though, that NWC's business people will see the value of the system. After all, during these tough competitive times the value of information is not only a competitive advantage, but a matter of survival.

David J. Wilde, Piper Jaffray Co, Inc

Mgr., Financial Reporting & Analysis

ADDRESS EXECUTIVE NEEDS

New World Corp. has an ideal environment for an executive information system (ELS), and Danelli has an excellent opportunity to meet the new sales executive's needs.

Sales is an appropriate fit for EIS, because of the need for daily, up-to-the-minute information. To sell Rogers on the benefits of the new system, Danelli should address the specific needs she mentioned. As a newcomer, she will be overwhelmed with data. However, she will probably not get information in the format she needs to get a handle on the sales staff, key account status and the sales pipeline.

A graphical user interface (GUI)-based EIS would allow Rogers to easily access that data. Danelli should therefore develop one or two simple EIS screens showing sales pipeline information feeding from existing systems. He should also show Rogers how easy it is to use a Windows- or Macintosh-based screen.

When Danelli sets up Rogers' PC, he should bear in mind that she has never used one before. She should be able to enter her office in the morning, flip a switch and have a GUI menu displayed on screen. All she would need to learn is how to point and click the mouse.

NWC's staff environment is ideal -- mainframe technical personnel working with knowledgeable professionals housed within the user departments. It should be easy to interface the mainframe and workstation applications to develop the type of centralized database required for EIS.

To justify the cost, Danelli should detail the benefits to the rest of the company. EIS does not have to be just for executives. By pulling information into a centralized database, all authorized users will have access to the data. The use of terminal emulation suggests that users are toggling between PC applications and mainframe screens. An EIS application may be able to more efficiently integrate data needed for daily tasks.

Danelli should also target Goings, Rogers' assistant, as a potential user. If the EIS helps Goings perform her duties more efficiently, Danelli could gain an ally who is eager to use technology. Goings could have a positive influence on Rogers, who clearly respects her assistant-- enough to bring her along to the new company.

To develop Rogers' ongoing support, Danelli needs to demonstrate the flexibility of EIS. Rogers should eventually expect quick turnaround on new requests, and flexible querying capabilities within applications to allow her to do her own analysis.

By showing the end user the system's capabilities, Danelli should gain Rogers' support for automating the underlying systems. In certain cases, including the project ready for release, EIS might be a better alternative than the proposed program changes. The current project to combine the sales contact management system with an account status reporting function might simply involve developing a database from several system sources. Such projects are a good fit for EIS, which may result in programming cost savings.

EIS could significantly enhance the value of NWC's information systems to the users'resulting in strong user support in the future.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Wiesner Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group