eprentise and the Consulting Firm

At eprentise, we have been working both directly with end-user customers and with consulting partners who are in the process of considering whether to use our software in proposals or on jobs that involve changing charts of accounts or calendars, restructuring configurations setups, or consolidating entire EBS instances. As a result of these conversations, it is clear that the hesitancy for end-users to use software and instead take a manual approach is the result of a few common lines of reasoning:

• They have been told for so long that EBS charts of accounts and instance configurations cannot be changed.
• The decision process is focused on the business result rather than the method of achieving it, and for business users that method of implementing a decision of this sort most often takes the form of hiring a trusted consulting firm to bid and then complete the job.
• They realize early on that they lack some aspect of the technical capability, bandwidth, or project integration skills needed to be successful even if there is a software solution to the most difficult aspect of the project.

For end-users who are initially hesitant but do end up employing a software solution, the method through which the idea takes root is often marketing of the software by the consulting firm. The firm may have had success in the past with a software product and sees it as a good fit for solving the end-users' problems, or the firm may have recently discovered a software solution for a project that would otherwise be a daunting manual task. In either case, the consulting firm may have buy-in with the end-user due to past relationships or reputation that may enable the company to take advantage of a software solution that they would have otherwise been too hesitant to implement or to which they would have been unexposed.

Consulting firms want to sell consulting services; software companies want to sell software. When software can be used to "replace" services, a consulting firm’s first instinct might be to utilize its people rather than the software in order to maximize utilization - high utilization leads to a higher compensation. Sometimes, however, a consulting firm and its client (and the software company) all benefit when the consultants, the client, and the software company work together to implement a software-centric solution.

eprentise software is comprised of tools that enable consulting firms to provide their clients with:

• Reduced time (substantially reduced time to completion as well as far quicker cutover)
• Certainty of data integrity and absolutely no errors
• The ability to re-do changes made by the software with no additional cost or delay if the result is not exactly what the customer wants.

Other Benefits for the Consulting Firm

• The consulting firm can do a more complex project with fewer resources, and thus can take on more projects over a period of time.
• The consulting team does not need to be trained in eprentise software – the software runs by pushing a few buttons. The firm can hire and deploy less experienced consultants quickly. They don’t have to find someone with skills and experience in the latest release with a particular module in a specific industry.
• Even inexperienced consultants can bill at a higher rate.
• The skills that the consultant needs are common ones: reports, interfaces, and testing methods.

There are several activities that eprentise software doesn’t cover.  The consulting firm will identify the target instance or set of books, or the operating unit or chart of accounts, and assist in defining the mapping from the source to the target. Consultants will need to modify the RICE objects (Reports, Interfaces, Customizations, and Enhancements) for every project to align with the changes made by eprentise software.  In addition, it will be up to the consultant to put together a good test plan and revise the business rules (cross-validation, security, and revenue recognition rules).  The consultant will assist the eprentise team in developing the project plan and the cutover strategy.

Our consulting partners take advantage of introducing eprentise software to their clients so that it can facilitate the most complex parts of their projects. As a result, the consulting firm is responsible for the less complex pre- and post-steps that they are familiar with, and projects cutover to production fast and error-free giving the firm an opportunity to complete more projects in less time, thus increasing their margins.

By introducing eprentise software to your clients, your firm is able to add value to multiple links in the chain: decreasing the cost to the client, decreasing project time, ensuring an end result that is exactly what the client wants, and increasing your profitability.