Back from CSIA 2010

I’m back in the office after attending the Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA) conference. I always enjoy attending the conference to connect  people who are dedicated to the betterment of system integration by sharing best practices and promoting the recognition and importance of excellence.

Familiar Faces

Despite the fact that most of the constituents focus exclusively on industrial automation, the challenges of managing a system integration business are much the same. Several NI Alliance Partners there including:

• VI Engineering
• Viewpoint Systems
• Bloomy Controls
• Optimation
• Data Science Automation
• DMC

It was rewarding to see them there. In many cases, I likely introduced them to CSIA. But, it is a testament to their commitment to run a quality system integration business that they they invest the time and energy to participate in the conference.

Direct from the Horses Mouth

As always, I enjoy (and get the most out of) the presentations given by managers of an SI company. Speaking from their own experiences, they offer the best insight and practical advice on how to be successful as well as how to avoid failure. So, the best 3 sessions in my opinion were:

1. Applying Lean Manufacturing Principles to the System Integrator’s World
   Jeff Miller, Director of Automation Services, Interstates Control Systems, Inc., Sioux Center, IA
   During tough economic times clients expect to see price cuts. So how does a systems integrator survive and remain poised for tremendous growth? One way is to apply lean manufacturing principals to our everyday work.

2. Are You Selecting Your Customers or Are They Selecting You?
   Dean Streck, CEO, VI Engineering, Farmington Hills, MI
   Not all customers are equal. This talk examines the importance of selecting your customers wisely and the far reaching impacts on your future. Dean will review various customer selection techniques and measurement methods including project margin, account margin, total lifetime value and the impact on your culture. Actual examples include the impacts of both wise and poor choices in changing industries.

3. The Top Ten Concrete Business Tips Learned Over 25 Years as a Systems Integrator
   Rick Pierro, President, Superior Controls, Seabrook, NH
   Rick will share valuable, easy to implement, and proven ideas which will produce more profit and add more value to your business. From marketing, hiring, contracts, structure and additional services, this talk will leave you with practical ideas to improve both your customer satisfaction and your bottom line.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll try to pass along some of the ideas from these presentations. But, if you really want to get the most value consider joining CSIA and attending the conference for yourself.

CSIA Post Best Practice Criterion

As you probably know by now, NI recommends the Control Systems Integrator Association as a great way to learn about the system integration business from colleagues who also manage the same type of business.

Setting the bar

You may also be aware that CSIA has developed a set of guidelines and and audit process that certify your business practices (a bit like ISO but specific for system integrators). Potential members have often asked what the criteria in the audit for CSIA Certification are, but the criteria were not made public . . . until now.

 For Your Benefit

Why would you want to know the criteria? Perhaps, you are curious to know what  integrators had to do in their business to pass the audit for certification before joining the association. For instance, was the audit about technical ability, business practices, or both.?

Chceck them out

To help inform folks about the CSIA Certification process, the audit criteria are now listed on our website under Certified Member Program. Find them online at: http://www.controlsys.org/about/documents/AuditCriteriaV302.pdf

I encourage you to review them. If nothing else, it is a quick check list of the areas that CSIA believes are critical to your success as a system integrator. Further yet, consider joining CSIA to get more details about these and other practices, have access to other material, attend their meeting and annual conferences, …..

Top Ways to Lose Money On Projects

After spending a couple weeks blogging about how to ensure project success, I was reminded about a presentation given by Dean Streck from V I Engineering back at NIWeek 2001. He gave a humorous presentation on the top ways to lose money on projects.

1. Don’t communicate … ever … with anyone (not your coustomer and not your vendors.)

2. Don’t train you sales team – on how to make contacts, assess customer needs, estimate projects, validate quotes, negotiate terms, close sales, ….

3. Verbals are as good as gold. Don’t worry about getting final specifications. Forget about kick-off meetings. Just take any version of the project proposal and dive right into building the system.

4. Don’tbother with project management. Just put junior engineers to the task. No need for a design review or leveraging existing technical assets. Encourage them to do it their way without constraints. 

5. Plan to use 100% of your budgeted time. And, if the customer asks for changes, just say yes. Memories are perfect, so don’t bother documenting anything especially changes. The only status updates occur at the beginning and end of the project. If your engineers do have extra time, have them spend it perfecting the system beyond required specifications.

6. When you think your done coding, try installing the system right away. The best place to find errors is at the customer site. Don’t bother the customer by calling in advance and scheduling time. Assume you will have clean power and noise free environment.

7. Support contracts are a waste of time, so forget about them. Just agree to fully support your system if the customer is ever dissatisfied or makes any changes.

I must admit I got some chuckles looking back through this presentation. Hopefully, you will too.

How To Ensure Project Success

Last week, I referenced this article, written by Vance VanDoren, of Control Engineering about how to avoid project failure. In addition to discussing the most common reasons for failure, he provided a list of ways to succeed:

1. Define project goals;
2. Develop project scope and schedule;
3. Establish multi-discipline project team;
4. Define the mechanical process;
5. Develop functional process controls descriptions;
6. Develop network configuration drawings; and
7. Develop equipment and programming specifications.

First Things First

I have to agree that lack of good/solid project requirements is probably the #1 challenge to project success. This can result from the customer not having a clear understanding of the project, the integrators failure to perform adequate requirements, or simply the sense of urgency to get the product started (without sufficient requirements.

Get the Customers to Help You Help Them

As I said last week, you may want to reference Vance’s article with your customers as a way to educate them about common project pitfalls. By better educating them, you can increase their understanding and desire to help you ensure the success of the project.

How to Avoid Project Failure

I found this article, written by Vance VanDoren, of Control Engineering. He discusses how system integration projects don’t always go smoothly. He lists the 10 signs of impending failure and 7 ways to stay on track. For instance:

Ten reasons for failure

1. Incomplete requirements;
2. Lack of client involvement;
3. Lack of resources;
4. Unrealistic expectations;
5. Lack of executive support;
6. Changing requirements and specifications;
7. Lack of planning;
8. Didn’t need it any longer;
9. Lack of management; and
10. Technology illiteracy.

Industrial automation projects may or may not fail as often as software development projects, but the reasons for failure are very similar, according to a less formal survey recently conducted by Control Engineering. All 1,800+ system integrators listed in the Automation Integrator Guide were asked to describe why an automation project might fail, what signs point to impending trouble, and how those problems can be avoided. Not surprisingly, several respondents agreed with the Chaos Report’s finding that “incomplete requirements” is the #1 problem.

Pass Along to Your Clients

While directed toward the end users, he offers some good tips that integrators should also be (painfully) aware of. Perhaps, the article is something that you can even point your customer to.

By the way, I’ve discussed many of these topics in more detail on this blog. Check out the Table of Contents as a convenient way to find them.

Creating a Marketing Strategy – Part II

Last week, we talked about defining your marketing strategy. Now, let’s define the requirements and process to fulfill the strategy. When you think about it, we’re essentially going through the similar methodology that you mighy use for your techincal projects. The better you can define the scope, requirements, and test criterion, the better your chance for success.

Develop a Campaign

A campaign is a series of integrated marketing activities that you often structure around a product launch or company vision, and that support a higher-level goal. When you roll out, or execute, a campaign, you should:

1. Set attainable goals
2. Determine your target audience
3. Plan marketing activities that support those goals and target your specific audience
4. Capture leads and drive them through the sales process
5. Track and measure success to determine future activities

Ideally, each marketing activity meets a different need during the campaign. At the very top level, all of the inquiries represent the first stage of the marketing and sales cycle – awareness. As the leads move through the marketing cycle, they become more qualified. Customers evolve through awareness, interest, trial, and purchase stages.

Set Goals and Metrics

To define meaningful goals, you have to define how marketing will impact the bottom line, which is called marketing return on investment (ROI). You need to measure each marketing venture based on:

1. Ability to capture. How many new leads have been established as a result of the activity?
2. Maintenance. How many target customer contacts have responded to this specific communication?
3. Upgrade factor. How many target customer contacts have responded in a way that gives you permission to take the dialogue to the next level?
4. Cost. What was the cost of each of the above?

Follow Through to Sales

A key marketing strategy involves following leads through the marketing process to sales. While it can be a difficult process, it helps the company to see what marketing activities are effective and generating revenue.

To maintain a lead, marketers must create a feedback loop with sales to reflect the customer path. For example:

• Did the customer generate revenue?
• Why did we lose the potential sale?
• Are there closed-loop marketing activities that you can continue to do with that customer?

Tradeshows – Maximizing Your Effectiveness

Everyone knows that tradeshows are a great source of leads, but here are some tips to make your next tradeshow a true success. Here are some thoughts on choosing the right tradeshow, maximizing your presence at the show, and measuring the effectiveness.

Choose Wisely

It’s important to look at a number of factors:

• Relevancy-Does the attendee profile fit the profile of the person we’re wanting to talk to? Do not just look at pure attendance numbers.
• Competitive Presence-Look at if there is a strong competitive presence at the show and how much they have invested in the show.
• Conference Strength-Make note of opportunities in the conference, and get involved.
• Past show performance-Double check your results from the previous year.

Think Outside of the Booth

To maximize your exposure at the show, don’t just worry about your booth itself. Take advantage of:

• Conference-Call for papers, speakers, etc.
• Sit in on Show Advisory Board- Show management will see you as a key player
• Business Partner Activities-Do joint-marketing with partners or customers
• Press Activities-Check out the press list and make appointments
• Sponsorships-Great way to generate awareness

Measure Yourself

Finally, how do you know if your show was effective? The show is not over when the hall lights go out! You must measure the show effectiveness, including:

• Lead Quantity-If this number is lower than expected-why?
• Lead Quality-How was the fit? Did the attendees seem to respond well to your offering?
• Hot Leads-These are your lead that require immediate sales attention.
• Inbound lead activity-One of the best metrics to gauge the quality of your leads
• Percent of New Contacts-It is important to rely on trade shows to constantly add new names and contacts to the database.
• Article Placement/Press Opportunities-How many editor appointments did we secure? What about article placements?

Tradeshows are a lot of fun but also require a lot of effort. Picking the right show, expanding your presence beyond your booth walls and using good metrics tracking will help you make the most of your tradeshow dollar.

Creating a News Release

Distributing a news release is an opportunity for your company to announce a new product, service, technology, or collaboration with another vendor to the media, investors, and customers. For our National Instruments Alliance Partners, we hope that you take advantage of these opportunities to tell your story in a meaningful way.

Some things to keep in mind

Your news release should announce something fresh and newsworthy and have an eye-catching headline that summarizes the main news and is benefit-oriented. Editors receive hundreds of news releases daily, so you should refrain from creating releases that are merely disguised advertising. It is much more effective if you focus on your company’s new developments and relate those developments to popular industry trends. Not only should you think about your news, but you should consider how it relates to the media you are targeting. Research the publications on your distribution lists to ensure that you are sending the most appropriate news to each outlet.

A Helping Hand

If you are planning to distribute an NI Alliance Partner news release, the NI Corporate Communications Department can help by reviewing your release for technical accuracy and appropriate content as well as providing quotes from NI spokespeople. Please send drafts of your NI Alliance Partner news releases to pr@ni.com.

A Table of Contents

Building Stronger Partners

General Management

Business Foundation

Part 1 – Why are you in Business?

Part 2 – Establishing Guiding Principles

Part 3 – Creating a Business Plan

Part 4 – Annual Strategic Planning

Part 5 – Putting Plans into Action

Alliance Partner Business Strategies

Part 1 - Overview

Part 2 – Generalist

Part 3 – Specialist

Part 4 – Products

Part 5 – Systems

Customer Selection

Business Infrastructure

Organizational Structure

Assessing Organizational Efficiency

Facilities and Equipment

Computer Systems Management

Protecting Your Company

Loss Protection

Insurance Plans

Loss of Key Personnel (The Bus Problem)

Dealing with the Economy

Alliance Day – Surviving and Growing in Trying Times

Review of 2009

Outlook for 2010

Plans for 2010

Surviving and Thriving as a System Integrator

Strategic Planning in a Recovering Market (1-3)

Strategic Planning in a Recovering Market (2 of 3)

Strategic Planning in a Recovering Market (3 of 3)

Alliance Days and CSIA

CSIA Conference – A Great Event to Share Best Practices

NIWeek 2009 – Alliance Day Keynote

CSIA Post Best Practice Criterion

Back from CSIA 2010

Business Development

Marketing Fundamentals

Creating Your Marketing Strategy

Creating a Marketing Strategy – Part I

Creating a Marketing Strategy – Part II

Segmenting and Targeting Your Audience

Positioning Your Product or Service

Five Most Important Marketing Investments

Drip Marketing

Marketing Techniques

Creating a News Release

Stating Your Case (Study)

Direct Marketing

Tradeshows – Maximizing Your Effectiveness

Beyond Traditional Marketing – Part 1

Beyond Traditional Marketing – Part 2

Search Engine Optimization

Sales Tactics

Selling is Key to Your Success

Requirements Gathering

Requirements Gathering (cont.)

Project Estimation (1 of 3)

Project Estimation (2 of 3) – Pricing

Project Estimation (3 of 3) – Risk

Proposals (1 of 3)

Proposals (2 of 3) – Terms and Conditions

Proposals (3 of 3) – Warranties, ….

Sales Negotiations

Project Management

How to Avoid Project Failure

How To Ensure Project Success

Top Ways to Lose Money On Projects

Project Planning

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

Project Set Up

Project Resources

Project Scheduling

Project Communications

Project Development

Start With a Good Design

Stay on Task

Project Completion

Project Commissioning – Part 1

Project Commissioning – Part 2

Project Close – Engineering Perspective

Project Close – Commercial Perspective

Project Tracking

Project Tracking

Change Management

Reasons for Change Management

Project Cost Accounting

General Administration

Finances

Project Cost Accounting

Financial Management

Basic Accounting

Accounting and Budgeting

Billing and purchasing

Managing Cash Flow

Final Housekeeping ….

Human Resources

The People Advantage

Performance Management

Quality Management

Applying Lean Manufacturing Principles to Your Company

Project Close-Out – Part 2

Some companies make the mistake of only considering a project close-out from an engineering perspective.  Your project close-out procedures should also consider business aspects.

Commercial Pause

You should also stop and consider commercial aspects to your close-out process. From a financial perspective, there should be procedures to ensure that all billing has been completed, including change orders. In some cases, Alliance Partners require that all payments are received, even client authorization to close the project.

Marketing and Sales Opportunity

Finally, there are marketing and sales considerations during project close-out. Some Alliance Partners require that a customer story be written, even if it will only be kept internally. Ideally, it can be used in future marketing efforts. Satisfaction surveys are also a common practice – not just as a mandatory quality process, but as a chance of looking for the next opportunity. Some Alliance Partners ‘require’ the salesperson to meet with the client to complete the survey. If the feedback is good, then it is certainly a good time to ask about the next project or a customer reference. Even if it is not good, you can reinforce your professional approach and desire to do better the next time.