Overview
As with all ERP type implementations a wide range of skills and services is required for any Cloud transformation, all of which can be supplied by K2CP:
- Industry process specialists
- Software and Industry experienced Project and Programme Managers
- Solution and Technical Architects
- Change Management specialists
- Software Configuration consultants
- Data Migration consultants
- Technical Managers and Consultants (mainly for report writing and software supported extensions)
- Test Managers and Test consultants
- Delivery Assurance.
A team comprising some or all of the above consultants (depending upon scale and complexity of the solution) combine with client staff and the software vendor’s account team to form a ‘Triangle of Trust’ – a concept which forms part of our approach to ensure Successful Delivery – Guaranteed.
K2CP were shortlisted for the “2020 cloud transformation of the year” with one of our key programmes
The Software Platforms we support
K2CP support all of the major software platforms for Cloud based ERP solutions. There are 3 reasons for this:
- The underlying technology of an implementation or migration programme is only one factor in ensuring a successful delivery. Some skills and expertise are technology-agnostic such as Programme Management, Change Management and Delivery Assurance; others are only partially related to the platform. For example, a team focused on Data Migration need to understand the target platform’s data schema but much of the complexity is based in the source system. This includes, data quality issues, duplicated data items and extract/transform logic required
- The K2CP network of employees, 14 partner firms with over 5,000 consultants provide considerable access to the technical and non-technical staff required
- Only one of the main reasons for ERP programme failures is directly related to the software platform. This is ‘teamunfamiliar or inexperienced with new technology’. Apart from this, the main areas to focus on to ensure Successful Delivery are related to factors such as: clear objectives, well-defined scope, effective oversight and governance, experienced Programme and Change Management practitioners, knowledgeable Solution Architects, etc.
Our particular strengths are with our Technical partner firm’s products i.e. Infor, Oracle and Salesforce, but we can also support most other platforms including SAP, Microsoft, IFS etc.
What is the case for changing to the Cloud
The Cost-Benefit case for running a company’s systems on the Cloud has become compelling. Avoiding upfront licence costs and rolling in support plus platform rental means that costs are predictable with cyber security and disaster recovery built in. The solution remains up to date with the vendor’s latest functional releases but discipline is required within the company to take advantage of all of these benefits. However, one key benefit (and discipline) is the potential to clear out the layers of additional custom components built much earlier in the software solution’s lifecycle. In our clients we often find custom components which:
- Duplicate standard functionality introduced in later versions of the software
- Duplicated custom components addressing the same perceived functional gap
- Custom components which are no longer used
- Custom components to support different non-statutory process requirements at different sites or business units
- All of the above.
Added to this are the problems of obtaining support for out-of-date software versions and also dependency upon in-house staff or external consultants to maintain and update the custom components as an when upgrades are taken.
All of the issues above contribute to a high – and increasing – cost of ownership.
At K2CP we help our clients have the cleanest, simplest operating model which supports their business operations and goals, implemented on the simplest, most standard software platform. Cloud-hosted COTS (commercial off the shelf) software achieves this perfectly and most software vendors are focusing on this going forward.