Post Author: Carroll Ross

November 24, 2009

At Collaborative Solutions we are always looking at ways to continually build value for our customers and enable organizations to better realize their investment in PeopleSoft products. It’s one of the reasons we started this Blog.  Recently, this value proposition has become more important than ever and once again, Collaborative Solutions has stepped up to the plate to deliver formally introducing our PeopleSoft 9.1 Readiness Roadmap for $9.1K!  For those clients who visited us at QUEST Circuit conference in Washington DC last week, you’ve already got a sneak peek at this offering.

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Post Author: Ryan Cassidy

September 24, 2009

Often times our clients are looking for a set of guiding principles as they embark on either a Talent Management Implementation, Business Process Workshops or even when trying to select a Talent Management Vendor. A full Talent Management Suite should not be viewed as a quick, standardized solution.  Each client Collaborative Solutions has worked with has a significant number of business needs that are consistent; however each has a unique set of constraints, requirements that support their go to market approach and stated business drivers/objectives to fulfill. Regardless of which path or approach is best for our clients, we always suggest the following items be taken into consideration during the project life cycle.

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Post Author: Ryan Cassidy

July 7, 2009

Continuing our discussion on Vendor Selection, the next topic I’d like to discuss is cost.

Let’s be frank…… You don’t always get what you pay for. Clients can be just as easily swayed into believing that they are being the most cost effective going with the lowest bid while on the flip side can also believe they are getting the best of the best if they pay on the high end. As I write this entry, I can think of recent examples of both situations where firms were trying to “get in the door”. Of course the most common method is to low ball the initial bid and identify “scope creep” during the project to facilitate a higher revenue generating project for the firm. What interesting is that no one benefits in any of this. The firm wins in the short term (sometimes) but most often loses in building a long term partnership with their client and potential future revenue. The client of course loses as what they have to pay is now more than originally budgeted. Why go through that?

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Post Author: Ryan Cassidy

June 23, 2009

Welcome Back!

Continuing the Vendor Selection topic, we now turn our attention to the project team.
Experience and the Personalities of the proposed team are almost of equal importance. The team has to have the requisite professional knowledge and skills, this is obvious, but at the same time successful project teams are created when this professional knowledge is coupled with complimentary personalities.

One of the key areas here is that vendors shouldn’t be proposing just the next person in line on the bench they should be building the right team for each client. Talk to your vendors, understand their staffing methodology, understanding how they went about assembling the proposed team. Unfortunately anyone can go to a recruiting website and find “available” consultants, but do these folks have the full package required to be successful? Can you assemble a viable team in this manner?

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Post Author: Ryan Cassidy

June 3, 2009

Given all that we have been reading lately about the economy, corporate spending cut backs and the general volatility/consolidation of service providers I thought it a good idea to discuss some key points in identifying and working with that trusted provider for the long term. It couldn’t be more important today given the scrutiny on how each dollar is spent and what is received in return. Whether you are investing thousands or even millions of dollars on an ERP system you need to make sure the best decision is being made to meet your company’s objectives. Even as we are a provider of services, we also work with many vendors procuring services for us. Taking from these experiences we can identify some key attributes we think makes for a successful vendor selection.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will try and break down each one of the key areas from both the client and the service provider perspective. So lets jump in and get started.

First and foremost don’t get caught up in the marketing!

Buy Reality, Don’t buy Perception.

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Post Author: Carroll Ross

September 8, 2008

Collaborative Solutions announced today that it has achieved Oracle Certified Advantage Partner status in the Oracle PartnerNetwork. Collaborative Solutions joins a select group of less than 100 companies that have achieved this partner status in North America, and who have shown a significant commitment to Oracle and its product offerings.

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