Transformation processes in focus
The Challenge
supports companies in the implementation of digitalization projects, among other things. Advanta was commissioned to support a group company in repositioning itself as a digital champion. The aim is a holistic sales and marketing transformation; more specifically: Changing a sales and marketing organization from an industrial group to a set-up that is very similar in content to a US tech or software company.
What has been proving its worth in M&A projects for years is now also proving its worth in other corporate vetting processes:
smartmerger.com is being used wildly in a multi-stage tansformation process and ensures transparency, clear responsibilities and a structured approach as well as effortless real-time reporting.
A suitable online project management and collaboration tool was sought for the project, with which the individual workstreams, responsibilities and dependencies could be clearly structured and displayed and the progress achieved could be tracked transparently. The tool needed to minimize manual work, create transparency, involve all stakeholders and offer the flexibility to adapt project management as the project progressed.
"The tool traditionally used for such projects in larger programs is PowerPoint with the classic PMO control slides," explains Dr. Tim Stolper, Senior Consultant at Siemens Advanta Consulting, who, together with his team, was tasked with initiating the project, training the participants and creating the best possible conditions for success. "However, we were dissatisfied with this solution. The frequent exchange of PowerPoint files often resulted in version conflicts, inconsistencies, a lack of flexibility and general dissatisfaction."
The Solution
After examining numerous other standard tools, the customer's transformation team initially decided on Jira. However, Advanta recommended the smartmerger.com M&A platform, which they were familiar with from carve-out and integration projects. As the turn of the year was approaching, the customer wanted to make a quick decision and requested a demonstration of the software at short notice as a basis for the decision.
Live demo at record speed
Tim Stolper turned to smartmerger.com. "Extremely quickly, smartmerger.com created a very credible live demonstration for us, which was available just two days after the Christmas break," reports Stolper. "That was a huge relief for us." The smartmerger.com app also impressed the customer team. For the Advanta team, the personal level of cooperation with smartmerger.com also plays a major role, says Stolper. "The willingness to jointly develop a solution for new requirements - on an equal footing with the business - has inspired a great deal of trust compared to traditional IT providers."
After examining numerous other standard tools, the customer's transformation team initially decided on Jira. However, Advanta recommended the smartmerger.com M&A platform, which they were familiar with from carve-out and integration projects. As the turn of the year was approaching, the customer wanted to make a quick decision and requested a demonstration of the software at short notice as a basis for the decision.
Live demo at record speed
Tim Stolper turned to smartmerger.com. "Extremely quickly, smartmerger.com created a very credible live demonstration for us, which was available just two days after the Christmas break," reports Stolper. "That was a huge relief for us." The smartmerger.com app also impressed the customer team. For the Advanta team, the personal level of cooperation with smartmerger.com also plays a major role, says Stolper. "The willingness to jointly develop a solution for new requirements - on an equal footing with the business - has inspired a great deal of trust compared to traditional IT providers."
Flexibility and fast implementation
In view of the advanced time, the smartmerger.com app now had to be adapted in detail to the project requirements. It was also necessary to migrate the project data to the new software. "The customization and migration from the live demo to the production environment took no more than four weeks," says Stolper. "Within this period, a number of customizing requirements were implemented and the first pilot users were able to test the system. We were then able to go live with all 150 users!"
Stolper's colleague Dr. Sophia Gruber adds: "I was impressed by the flexibility of smartmerger.com. Based on our list of requirements, we worked out proposals together on how our wishes could be implemented and smartmerger.com was always very cooperative."
The visualization of the reporting templates, which Advanta wanted to be implemented in PowerBi in order to offer users the most familiar working environment possible, also worked very well, mentions Tim Stolper: "In Jira, it was not possible to integrate Power BI reports. In the smartmerger solution, on the other hand, it is very easy, and that is a huge advantage."
The Advantages
The smartmerger.com tool was a precision landing for the ongoing digitization project, confirms Tim Stolper. "The customer is extremely happy. The feedback is 90-95% positive. The tool is clear, well-structured and performs well. The few outstanding requests only concern detailed aspects that are not significant."
The smartmerger.com tool was a precision landing for the ongoing digitization project," confirms Tim Stolper. "The customer is extremely happy. The feedback is 90–95% positive. The tool is clear, well-structured, and performs well. The few outstanding requests only concern detailed aspects that are not significant.
Transparency
The smartmerger.com tool makes the transformation transparent across a larger user community, says Stolper. "We can use the tool to give everyone involved access, regardless of which BU they belong to. That has helped us enormously. Access is very easy for the 150 users; they only need a single company log-in. Access rights can be assigned individually." New users can be assigned tasks immediately, even before they log in. "That wouldn't have been possible with Jira either; it makes onboarding much easier."
And unlike other tools, we do not pay a separate license fee for each user. Individuals/Employees can therefore be integrated at short notice if required at no additional cost.
Variety of methods
At the start of the project, Advanta had already expressed the desire for a hybrid model that would support both agile and traditional working and that would offers the possibility of freely defining interdependencies from within the project and mapping them in the Gantt chart.
Sophie Gruber confirms that the smartmerger.com M&A platform can also meet this requirement without any problems: "The many workstreams of our program are structured differently, and the fact that all participants can still work with the smartmerger.com M&A platform shows once again the flexibility of smartmerger.com."
Flexibility
"From classic waterfall structures to agile project management and Power BI reports with precisely defined timelines and traffic light indicators, through to input fields, aggregation, and notes—everything is possible," explains Tim Stolper. "For agile working, you can have an unlimited number of hierarchy levels, so that a program can have any number of substructures down to the workstream and sub-workstream levels."
Customized solutions are possible at short notice, with great flexibility and at a moderate cost. In this project — as in the past — smartmerger.com demonstrated an unconditional willingness to accommodate our requests. I found that truly outstanding.
Regarding risk management, Schyma continues, the platform was able to meet stakeholder requirements. It was important for management to maintain an overview of risk activities, to know where something was not working as expected, or in which countries certain applications were not yet ready.
Users have the option of using task overviews in the style of Microsoft Planner, such as a Kanban board with task backlog, in progress, and done columns. "We haven’t missed anything yet."
Real-time reporting
Especially with agile working methods, users benefit from features such as real-time reporting, adds Gruber. "Regardless of how sprint cycles are organized, participants can update and report status in program management at any time. All of this makes the smartmerger.com M&A App Suite very valuable for such an extensive program."
“On-demand” customer support
Flexibility not only in terms of methodology but also in meeting special requests is one of the particular strengths of the smartmerger.com Ü&A platform, confirms Stolper. "Customized solutions are possible at short notice, very flexibly, and at a moderate cost. In this project—as in the past—smartmerger.com demonstrated an unconditional willingness to respond to our requests. I thought that was outstanding."
Transformation Playbook
Michael Klawon
CEO
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