Managing Systems Implementations

As you start turning the page from the holiday season for 2010 (and prepare for gift card redemptions, product exchanges, and the inevitable returns and refunds), you'll soon be reassessing your systems readiness for next year.

There are so many contingencies to account for, very little margin for error, and no time to step back and manage your options when you are "in the thick of it."

We can help. Marketing Systems Analysis can provide you with expert assistance in determining what you need to do next to stay competitive. And we can help you prepare for the next big surge in order volume, whether it's Valentine's Day, Mother's Day/Father's Day, the summer season (for casual apparel, outdoor furniture, fun&sun products, and so on), or the fourth quarter 2011 holiday rush.

The sooner you start getting your house in order and your team ready to spring into action, the better you will be able to get it right this time around.

• a systems audit and evaluation of resources currently in place
• strategic planning for improving your presence in each sales channel (including social commerce and shopping site feeds and integration)
• streamlining order management
• warehouse facilities and fulfillment assessment
• optimizing inventory management practices
• user training evaluation and refresher training
• on-site and consultative optimization of all operations and systems for order management, inventory management, eCommerce, and mCommerce

Systems Implementation
Choosing the right systems is only half the battle; getting them in place and ready for prime time is just as important as the initial selection.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of systems are implemented haphazardly. In-house staff already have a full-time job, botched data conversions light the fuse on a time bomb of database disasters, project management challenges can be brutally intimidating, and vendor personnel typically do a superficial job of getting the system ready for use by each department.

And then there's training, which can be costly, superficial, and ineffective.

To get all this right, you need someone who's "been there, done that" to step in and make sure that every aspect of the implementation process is executed according to the highest possible standards. Let Marketing Systems Analysis be responsible for making this happen, so that you can actually benefit from your major investment in new solutions, rather than spending the next five years fighting an uphill battle to make the system "work" for you. Otherwise you'll blame the vendor(s) for your big mistake, and be calling us sooner than you'd like to for our primary service: Managing the Acquisition of Third-party Systems, to replace a system that never did pay off for you.