ERP - Marketing / Sales Strategies of Tata Consulting Services
ERP - Marketing / Sales Strategies of Tata Consulting Services
Contents
What is ERP? The Evolution of ERP SystemsA Historical Perspective ERP System Architecture Extended ERP Towards an ERP Life-Cycle Costs Model Advantages and Disadvantages of ERP Systems ERP From E-BUSINESS Perspective. Business Model for an ERP Company. i. ii. On premise Model. SAAS Model.
Marketing Strategies. i. ii. iii. iv. Search engine optimization. Email Marketing Tele Sales Cold Calling B2B Lead Generation
v. vi.
Sales Approach / Strategy / Sales cycle. ix. x. xi. Web / Online demonstration. Onsite Presentation Pre Sales
A software solution that addresses enterprise needs goals. -- It integrates all the departments and functions across a company into a single computer system that can serve all those different departments particular needs. taking the process view of an the organization organization to meet
What Is ERP?
An ERP system is analogous to the internal technological hub of a company. When fully implemented as an integrated suite, it can be thought of as a company's central repository. The five major processes in a typical ERP system are: finance, logistics, manufacturing, human resources and
sales/marketing (refer to Figure next slide). The focus of ERP systems is on the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal process. It offers a way to streamline and align business processes, increase operational efficiencies and bring order out of chaos.
What Is ERP?
ERP Combines various department systems into a
single, integrated software program that runs off a single database so that the various departments can more easily share information and communicate with each other.
The best part of ERP is the way in which it improves
the order fulfillment process that is taking the customer order and processes it into an invoice and revenue.
It doesnt handle the front-end that is handled by
What Is ERP?
When a customer service representative enters a customer order into an ERP system, he has all the information necessary to complete the order such as customers credit rating and order history from the finance module, the companys inventory levels from the warehouse module and the shipping docks trucking schedule from the logistics module.
How its being done: It integrates the financial information and customer order information . It does so by integrating the following: Database Application Interfaces Tools BPR
What Is ERP?
It standardizes and speeds up the manufacturing
process. This saves time, increases productivity and reduces head count.
available about all the orders it helps to maintain the right level of stock and smoothes the manufacturing process.
The phenomenal growth of computing power and the Internet is bringing ever more challenges for the ERP vendors and the customers to redesign ERP products breaking the barrier of proprietorship and customization, and embracing the collaborative business over the Intranet, Extranet and the Internet in a seamless manner. The vendors already promise many "add-on" modules, some of which are already in the market as a sign of acceptance of these challenges by the ERP vendors. It is a never-ending process of reengineering and development bringing new products and solutions to the ERP market. ERP vendors and customers have recognized the need for packages that follow open architecture, provide interchangeable modules and allow easy customization and user interfacing.
began appearing, and business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce applications such as electronic procurement (e-procurement) and buyer-to-seller electronic marketplaces are directly descended from these first-generation cross-enterprise supply chain applications, which in turn owe a large portion of their growth to the tenacity of ERP proponents who persevered throughout the decade and made
Modular design comprising many distinct business modules such as financial, manufacturing, accounting, distribution etc.
Use centralized common database management system (DBMS) The modules are integrated and provide seamless dataflow among the modules increasing operational transparency through standard interfaces.
They are flexible and offer best business practices They require time-consuming tailoring and configuration setups for integrating with the company's business functions
The modules work in real-time with on-line and batch processing capabilities They are or soon they will be Internet-enabled
The modules of an ERP system can either work as stand-alone units or several modules can be combined together to form an integrated system. The systems are usually designed to operate under several operating platforms such as UNIX, MS Windows NT, Windows 2000, IBM AIX, HP UX systems. SAP AG, the largest ERP vendor provides a number of modules shown in the next slide with its famous R/3 ERP system. New modules are introduced by SAP and other vendors in response to the market and technological demand such as the Internet technology.
The proliferation of the Internet has shown tremendous impact on every aspect of the IT sector including the ERP systems becoming more and more Internet-enabled (Lawton, 2000). This environment of accessing systems resources from anywhere anytime has helped ERP vendors extend their legacy ERP systems to integrate with newer external business modules such as supply-chain management, customer-relationship management, sales force automation (SFA), advanced planning and scheduling (APS), business intelligence (BI), and e-business capabilities. In fact ERP is becoming E-business backbone for organizations doing on-line business transactions over the Internet. Internet-based solutions are destined to improve customer satisfaction, increase marketing and sales opportunities, expand distribution channels, provide more cost-effective billing and payment methods. The extension to SCM and CRM enables effective tri-party business relationships between the organization, suppliers and the customers. A supply chain
management has sub-modules for procurement of materials, transformation of the materials into products and distribution of products to customers.
Extended ERP
E-commerce is the conduct of business transactions
among organizations with the support of networked information and communication technologies, especially utilizing Internet applications such as the Web and e-mail effectively reaching the global customers. Adoption of e-commerce and e-business solutions, especially business-to-business (B2B) solutions, are seen by many as the wave of current and future extensions of traditional ERP systems of most small, medium and large vendors. The frontend web-based Internet-business applications are integrated with the back-office ERP-based applications enabling business transactions such as order placement, purchasing, inventory updates, employee benefits etc. to take place between the customers, suppliers and the enterprise based on reliable, relevant data and applications instantly in a border-less domain.
Extended ERP
The legacy ERP systems designed to integrate
enterprise functions within the four walls of the enterprise have introduced software solutions with Web-interface essentially extending to Internet enabled CRM, SCM and other Internet-business models. Examples of such extended ERPs are available from most of the ERP vendors. Thus SAP's Internetenabled integrated ERP system called http://mySAP.COM (SAP, 2001) is a suite of ERP, CRM and other products that can be linked together using Internet portals. The concept of the Internetenabled extended ERP system is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2(next two slides).
Adoption decision phase Acquisition phase Implementation phase Use and maintenance phase Evolution phase Retirement phase
new ERP system while selecting the general information system approach that will best address the critical business challenges and improve the organizational strategy. This decision phase includes the definition of system requirements, its goals and benefits, and an analysis of the impact of adoption at a business and organizational level.
Acquisition Phase
This phase consists on the selection of a ERP product
that best fits the requirements of the organization, thus minimizing the need for customization. A consulting company is also selected to help in the next phases of the ERP life-cycle especially in the implementation phase. Factors such as price, training and maintenance services are analyzed and, the contractual agreement is defined. In this phase, it is also important to make an analysis of the return on investment of the selected product.
Implementation Phase
This phase includes the customization or
to the needs of the organization. Usually this task is made with the help of consultants who provide implementation methodologies, know-how and training.
product is selected in a way that returns benefits and minimizes disruption. During this phase, one must be aware of the aspects related to functionality, usability and adequacy to the organizational and business processes. Once a system is implemented, it must be maintained, because malfunctions have to be corrected, special optimization requests have to be met, and general systems improvements have to be made.
Evolution Phase
This phase corresponds to the integration of more
capabilities into the ERP system, providing new benefits, such as advanced planning and scheduling, supply-chain management, customer relationship
management, workflow, and expanding the frontiers to external collaboration with other partners.
Retirement Phase
This phase corresponds to the stage when, with the
appearance of new technologies or the inadequacy of the ERP system or approach to the business needs, managers decide if they will substitute the ERP software with other information system approach more adequate to the organizational needs of the moment.
How
Common DBMS, Consistent and accurate data, improved reports. Modules access same data from the central database, avoids multiple data input and update operations. Minimizes retrieving and reporting delays Time savings, improved control by enterprise-wide analysis of organizational decisions.
system procurement.
Extended modules such as CRM and SCM Internet Commerce, Collaborative culture.
Minimize sensitive issues, internal politics and raise general consensus. Cost may vary from thousands of dollars to millions. Business process re-engineering cost may be extremely high. The architecture and components of the selected system should conform to the business processes, culture and strategic goals of the organization. Single vendor vs multi-vendor consideration, options for "best of breeds", long term committed support.
ERP system may have too many features and modules that the user needs to consider carefully and implement the needful only.
Look for vendor investment in R&D, long term commitment to product and services, consider Internet-enabled systems.
Consider middle-ware "add-on" facilities and extended modules such as CRM and SCM.
ERP Benefits
IBM has used ERP to reduce the processing time for
SAAS - Model
Software ownership costs pushed to vendor hardware, software, system security, disaster recovery, maintenance, monitoring Return to core competency - organizations shift resources to core competencies, vendors focus on managing their SaaS More efficient deployment instant evaluation, more collaboration between vendor and IT organization, much faster deployments Modern, Web 2.0 interface - drive technician usage and better customer interaction with IT Eliminate shelfware & maintenance - pay for what you use Always on current version version-free software means the latest for the customer SaaS homogeneity costs less One version for the vendor to support means lower costs for everybody
Social Media
Email Marketing
Search Advertising
On premise - Model
On-premises software (often abbreviated as on-prem software) is installed and run on computers on the premises (in the building) of the person or organisation using the software, rather than at a remote facility, such as at a server farm or cloud somewhere on the internet. The on-premises approach to deploying and using business software was the most common until around 2005, when software running at a remote location became widely available and adopted. The new, alternative deployment and use model typically uses the Internet to remove the need for the user to install any software on premises and had other accompanying benefits: running software remotely
can result in considerable cost savings because of reduced staffing, maintenance, power consumption, and other factors.
remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlines, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.
Benefits of SEO.
So what are the business benefits?
You can attract highly targeted traffic to particular pages on your site. Every service or product page that you offer can be the page that the searcher arrives at, making your site as wide a net as possible to catch potential customers with.
Every keyword related to your business gives you an opportunity to bring traffic to your site.
More visibility and a higher profile, coupled with an attractive functional website should bring you more inquiries, more sales and more business.
Promote and reinforce your brand, the higher up the rankings the more perceived value and credibility your site and company will have.
Receive an excellent cost effective long term Return on Investment from 24/7 online promotion.
In many markets and many regions smaller companies can still compete online with bigger companies and out punch their weight.
Allow customers to easily find you. I had one client recently whos own name didnt even bring up their site when you searched on Google.
Target the local market or international market. Sell anywhere and everywhere around the world.
Track, monitor and improve your website. Your website analytics is a goldmine of information and can tell you so much about your business and your products.
Theres no doubt that more and more people rely on search engines as opposed to offline directories such as the Yellow Pages. In some sectors this is dramatic.
To make an online success of your business search engine optimisation is one of the most successful online marketing strategies that you can use, its not the only one by any means and it shouldnt be used in isolation. Pay Per Click advertising can compliment it very nicely. SEO is an investment that many businesses should seriously consider. Offer a good service, product or advice, get it in front of your targeted market and youll reap the benefits. A well designed, structured website, with some age and with only a few links from other sites around your niche is sometimes enough to help your site rank well. It can be a very lucrative business, done right of course.
Email Marketing.
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fund-raising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing.
Global reach: No matter where you are or whom you need to reach, targeted emails pave the way. Borders are no obstacles in email marketing. Round the clock marketing: With an email the audience can understand your offering even when you are out of office. Measurable results: Special tools are available that accurately measure click-through rate, conversion rate, how a person one arrived at your website, and more, to enable you to assess the success of different email campaigns. Faster response: Time to receive responses through e-mail is one to three days, where you will get maximum responses on day one itself, while a direct mail campaign would take minimum 7 to 12 days to generate any responses. Further, responding to a direct mail is more cumbersome, while a person can respond to an email immediately. Simplest: Executing an email campaign is simple and you can do it sitting at home without any extensive resources.
Highly personalized: Email enables you to personalize and greet every person you target. This helps in creating a special bond with the prospects
Tele Sales.
Advantages of Tele Sales
CREATE LEADS WITH THE PERSONAL TOUCH : Telesales campaigns create leads by developing personal relationships. By just using your natural your voice you can increase your chances of making a sale, before the prospect is willing to meet face to face with a salesman. QUALIFYING LEADS : you can use telesales to effectively qualify the leads that you receive through
other means such as your website and brochure or literature requests. COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS : These days, telesales can be used as a highly cost effective way of marketing your products and services to the right people. If you outsource your telesales to a professional telesales team, you can massively cut the costs of your sales activities by using a telesales campaign as a powerful resource in your sales and marketing arsenal.
NO BOUNDARIES: With telesales, you dont have any geographic boundaries. Your telesales staff can call anyone, anywhere in the world. Your telesales team can call people in the UK or Holland, the United States, Australia, New Zealand or Japan you can also hire a team which speaks the language you need to sell in, not just English. Telesales means
that your business can be global, and not just local. Global span means global profits at reduced cost.
MULTI-PURPOSE: sing out-bound telesales provides you with more than just the opportunity to make sales. You can use it to upgrade peoples existing services, test prospects, increase cash flow, make appointments and even re-awaken dormant customers
Target the right client base Find the right person to talk to Get in front of him or her Establish a solid professional relationship Make a solid presentation Close the deal You have greater flexibility in the questions you ask than with direct mail. The response rate is higher than with direct mail. You can immediately qualify leads. It can reap unexpected rewards. Saves you from the hassles of cold calling. Reduces time spent in search of sales lead. Helps you quickly reach interested customers. Increased sales per person and profits. Helps you reach dissatisfied customers.
There is the opportunity for third parties to provide assistance to applicants in several ways covering
consultancy user training provision of XML-based authoring tools development of commercial systems to support the creation and management of PIM submissions development of bespoke solutions for individual applicant companies
Generally, the virtual component involves an online representation of the live event. For example, online participants might have access to:
live audio or video streaming of keynote speakers or workshops alongside their presentation material (e.g., via Upstream, Sonic Foundry) online presentations (ranging from webcasts to sharing of content via Slides hare) creation of a live commentary or transcript of proceedings (e.g., through Wthashtag, CoverItLive) online chat or discussion forum facilities (e.g., through Path able) live blogs event photographs (e.g., via Flickr) and video (e.g., via YouTube, Vimeo, Qik)
Trade Shows
A trade fair (trade show, trade exhibition or expo) is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities. In contrast to consumer fairs, only some trade fairs are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of the trade, e.g. professionals) and members of the press, therefore trade shows are classified as either "Public" or "Trade Only".
complete any necessary paperwork such as health and safety declarations. An increasing number of trade fairs are happening online, and these events are called virtual tradeshows. They are increasing in popularity due to their relatively low cost and because there is no need to travel whether you are attending or exhibiting.
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Social media are media for social interaction, as a superset beyond social communication. Enabled by ubiquitously accessible and scalable communication techniques, social media substantially change the way of communication between organizations, communities, as well as individuals.]
People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information.
Important to brands operating in social media is their impact on their target audiences. Only with the right engagement, messages and response can brands improve their brand image, their brand value and the likelihood that they will have a tangible impact on their bottom line. Along with these objectives[3] organizations must measure their success in order to make certain they are improving
their position with their target audiences, driving increased value in terms of their brand image and of course increased profit, all of which drive increased social media budgets.
Pre- Sales
Presales is a process or a set of activities normally carried out before a customer is acquired, though sometimes presales also extends into the period the product or service is delivered to the customer. In a typical sales cycle the stages are: 1. Contact 2. Lead / Suspect 3. Prospect / Opportunity The task of a presales person starts from the initial contact phase and often ends once the customer is acquired i.e. sale is made. In some cases, presales also provide some initial or transitional support post sale. The responsibilities differ from organization to organization but in general include: 1. Solution Preparation/Proposal based on Customers Requirements 2. Product Demonstrations 3. Proof of Concept Creation 4. Creation of Marketing Documents 5. ... and any other activity required to generate business
The Software Industry and IT Services Industry provide a vital and significant role for presales professionals. The role of presales falls right in the middle marrying the customer needs to the (provider) company's services or products. This role is especially crucial in these industries because the products and services are often heavily customizable and also because the requirements of different customers are often unique. The presales professional thus understands what the customer needs, develops an initial view of the solution the customer needs, then tailors the product or service of his company to meet what the customer needs, explains (or helps sell) this solution to the customer, helps close the deal or sale and often stays on to ensure that the delivery team or product specialists that follow him provide the intended solution.
Sales engineering
Sales and consultancy The purpose of the job is to help potential customers understand, compare, and contrast the solutions that are available for buying (the pre-sales role); to troubleshoot problems with their implementationsthat is, to help ensure that the solutions work successfully once the buying decision has been made (the post-sales role); and to maximize sales for the sales engineer's employer by providing such help to the customers (the aspect of the job that puts the "sales" in the title sales engineer).
It is understood in the market that the latter purpose inherently involves competition of interest (COI), because it is always possible that the ideal solutions and troubleshooting could involve recommending a competitor's products or services, yet the sales engineer
is under pressure not to steer the customer in that direction. Thus, customers weigh the advice of sales engineers with a predisposition of "caveat emptor". Nevertheless, sales engineers do usually provide real value to customers, which is why the relationship endures despite the perennial taking of a "grain of salt".
Teaching customers Many products and services purchased by large companies and institutions are highly complex. Examples include airliners, weapons systems, and IT systems (such as telecommunications, or databases and their dependent applications for purposes such as logistics or customer relationship management). Sales engineers advise customers on how best to use the products or services provided.
Tailoring solutions
Sales engineers also collaborate with the design, production, engineering, or R&D departments of their companies to determine how products and services could be made or modified to suit customers' needs. This aspect of sales engineering is important, because it is what allows the sales engineer to feel that he (or she) can maintain his personal integrity (ethically speaking) in the face of the inherent COI of the job (explained earlier). The sales engineer does not have to lie (ignore or negatively misrepresent the competitor's products or services) if he (or she) can reasonably tell the customer that his employer can tailor its solutions to the customer's particular requirements. Doing that may not be easy or cheap, which means that there is always a line to be walked to avoid overpromising-and/or-under delivering.
Conclusion
Open ERP has become established as the main free market-changing alternative for enterprise management systems in amongst software from giants such as SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, and from the small software developers in their own niches. Until now only two main alternatives existed for systems that manage a companys information: install a proprietary ERP system, complete but usually overweight, inflexible, and expensive; or develop a solution internally, adapted to current needs but often expensive to develop, not integrated, and incomplete.
With its free business model, Open ERP combines the advantages of a complete ERP system with the flexibility of an in-house solution. The open source code, the projects general flexibility, and its hundreds of modules let you construct a solution from a selection of the modules already available and you can then freely update it as your needs evolve. The results will be at the top end of what you might expect from any ERP system, let alone an Open Source system. The considerable gains in productivity, efficiency and visibility become apparent only a few months after implementation. And you can gain from increased operational quality even if you reduce your human resourcing intensity.
Because there are fewer repetitive tasks for your staff to do, they can concentrate on higher added-value work. We frequently receive the gratitude of senior management who get better results from their business because theyve adopted Open ERP.
Thank You!!