Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
"Meanwhile, i2 also unveiled a deal with Microsoft, which would enable customers to use Excel as an interface for i2 applications. Executives at i2 admit that end users frequently prefer to use Excel as entry point to supply chain planning because of unfamiliarity with its own tools; integrating i2 applications with Excel should lower barriers to adoption.
....i2 is also revamping its sales structure, placing a greater emphasis on consulting and pre-built application aiming to reduce the complexity of deploying its applications."
Infoconomy 13th May
Some of us have been using Excel as an interface to robust planning applications for years! Our own IMPACT Planner for one.
But putting a spreadsheet in front of the users is only part of the issue - you have to give them performance that sings too! You don't seem to get that from the monster ROLAP based planning systems these days (in spite of their inflated price tags)
How many WSSI applications out there can load a full year's worth of history data and calculate a top level summary in less than one minute? We can do that with IMPACT Planner!
It would be fun to do a Merchandise Planning Olympics and to measure the performance of the behemoths against the nimble, smaller players in the game. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that most of the "major" systems would still be loading their splash screens after we had finished!
I wonder if the last part about "pre-built applications" means that they are resuscitating the old Quickstart model from the late 90s! I don't suppose anyone is going to argue that the major cause of merchandise planning project failure is over-complexity, but am I alone in wondering how you square off "placing a greater emphasis on consulting and pre-built application aiming to reduce the complexity of deploying its applications". I can see how the latter works, but I am not sure how more consulting does that. After all it's not often you find consultants who "reduce complexity" ;-)
....i2 is also revamping its sales structure, placing a greater emphasis on consulting and pre-built application aiming to reduce the complexity of deploying its applications."
Infoconomy 13th May
Some of us have been using Excel as an interface to robust planning applications for years! Our own IMPACT Planner for one.
But putting a spreadsheet in front of the users is only part of the issue - you have to give them performance that sings too! You don't seem to get that from the monster ROLAP based planning systems these days (in spite of their inflated price tags)
How many WSSI applications out there can load a full year's worth of history data and calculate a top level summary in less than one minute? We can do that with IMPACT Planner!
It would be fun to do a Merchandise Planning Olympics and to measure the performance of the behemoths against the nimble, smaller players in the game. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that most of the "major" systems would still be loading their splash screens after we had finished!
I wonder if the last part about "pre-built applications" means that they are resuscitating the old Quickstart model from the late 90s! I don't suppose anyone is going to argue that the major cause of merchandise planning project failure is over-complexity, but am I alone in wondering how you square off "placing a greater emphasis on consulting and pre-built application aiming to reduce the complexity of deploying its applications". I can see how the latter works, but I am not sure how more consulting does that. After all it's not often you find consultants who "reduce complexity" ;-)
posted by John Hobson at 1:59 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home