FAQ about solution centers - how large companies in Russia choose software so as not to step on the rake

    Small business takes a demo and sets to watch. Medium-sized businesses go to their neighbors and consult, look, and then implement them at home. A large business cannot do this, because software of the ERP level cannot be simply taken and tried (it can take 2 months to organize a test), only common principles can be seen from the neighbors, and the distribution and license can not be easily obtained.

    Since it is very difficult to understand how to do something at this level (after all, you need to have a couple of years of extremely rare experience), and there are usually not many options, the problems begin. As a result, you may get a vague terms of reference , which are put up for tender. And the tender is won “for two pennies” by someone who will do everything as it was in the task - but at the same time not at all what the business wanted. I think how this happens, no need to explain.

    Therefore, we need special solution centers - a kind of testing ground. There you can look at one business day of an abstract company from the perspective of users from different departments, the administrator, and so on, using the already completed test databases and the simulated infrastructure.

    Why is such a solution center needed?
    Everything is very simple: you can say a lot of words and promise anything. Or you can just show it. So that everyone understands in detail what is possible, what is not, how problems are solved and where what surprises may be. In the case of software, the implementation of which can take from 4 to 12 months, this is very important. Nobody wants to implement it first, and then understand that you still need to do a lot of work or even migrate to another solution.

    Why it is impossible to deploy a pilot project at the customer?
    In my practice, there was a case when a customer chose a resource and project management system for 4 months from three options. Accordingly, specialists from the same company came to them, looked, picked, deployed. IT specialists poked around, studied, mastered, and generally ran an almost complete beta - then the cycle repeats for the other two solutions. If you have so much free time and money - yes, this is a good option for a responsible choice.

    How is it usually done?
    Usually the customer knows exactly what he wants to solve. And he just needs to make sure that the system can fundamentally, there will be no rake in the process, plus all this is done not in one place, but maybe it will be “tailored” for its specific business processes. Accordingly, at first there is simply an inspection of the software solution, then - a more detailed picking of the described tasks. After a day or two of picking and commenting on our consultants, an understanding appears of how this all works and what it can do.

    What does the solution center look like?
    I work with the HP Solution Center, so I will continue to talk on its example. Our center looks like a small room with plasma, laptops and other things for presentation. All this is connected to the data center in the same building.



    Complete HP SC Solution List
    Business Service Management:
    • HP Network Node Manager
    • HP Operations Manager
    • HP SiteScope
    • HP Business Process Monitor
    • HP Real User Monitor
    • HP Operations Manager I
    • HP Business Service Manager
    • HP Service Health Reporter
    • HP Service Level Management
    • HP Service Health Analyzer

    IT Financial Management:
    • HP Service Manager
    • HP Asset Manager
    • HP Executive Scorecard

    Business Service Automation:
    • HP Network Automation,
    • HP Client Automation,
    • HP Server Automation,
    • HP Storage Essentials,
    • HP Operation Orchestrator.


    HP Cloud Service Automation I.

    TippingPoint

    ArcSight:
    • HP ArcSight
    • HP ArcSight Logger


    Hardware
    Based on HP converged infrastructure technologies: HP BladeSystem, Matrix Operating Environment and Cloud Service Automation for Matrix.


    All this is equipped with connectors among themselves, plus our modifications for various fields of activity - for example, modules for marketing campaigns, modules for retail needs, for production enterprises and so on. A standard test database with several thousand records (modeling a real company database) has been established for each sphere.

    Why can I see everything so quickly in comparison with the test at home?
    Because a full-fledged test project is not much different from a combat deployment - it is transferring data from databases, building interactions, writing and connecting connectors, adding code, and so on. Each of these tasks takes weeks. At the center of solutions, as I said, everything is ready in advance at some abstract companies. Well, there is another reason - people.

    These are engineers and IT specialists who implement such solutions throughout the country in different companies. They have all the necessary certificates and real practical experience. Simply put, these are people who know in advance what kind of rake you can step on and how much it can cost the company. And how everything works for those who have already implemented something similar. Therefore, during the test work in the virtual infrastructure, they are nearby not only to be guides, but also to explain why and why this is done. In each case. And such experience saves weeks or even months of work of the customer’s IT specialist.

    And how is the technical task usually written?
    The first option - google something similar and add it “on the knee”. The result is predictable and deplorable. The option is better - it is added after a visit to the neighbors and a long conversation with their financial director and IT specialists. Better - those who stepped on a rake. The third option is after the decision center. In the event that there is no limit to the specifics with measurable requirements, the technical task of the level “do me well” is usually obtained. What is “good” everyone understands in their own way, and as a result, the contractor does far from what the customer needed.

    That is, you can understand in advance how much, for example, will the new software be conveniently maintained?
    Yes, and that too, of course. Usually, you need to develop cases, make decisions, integrate them with each other, think about how all this will be done at the level of solution architecture and at the level of cases and tasks. Train engineers. And each line consists of a dozen solutions, plus boxed integration requires serious revision with a file. We need complex adjacent integrations between the blocks - otherwise it just will not work to verify the solution to the most important problems. The links between the blocks is a separate story. Someone is trying to do it on their own, but software is far from the easiest. We need a very high qualification of specialists who configure it. A consolidated solution that increases the effect of implementation is difficult and difficult, so when you try it yourself, you often get such a strange bike on crutches.

    Ok, I found the solution I want to see on the HP Solution Center list. What's next?
    1. You write about what you want and for which company. If the specialists are not somewhere in Vladivostok on combat deployment now, we will arrange a meeting.
    2. At the meeting, you receive financial data and information about the functionality for evaluating the decision. Everything is shown on the spot on a practical case (on a test basis).
    3. If necessary, your IT specialist will poke around in this case and in general the infrastructure of the solution center for at least a day.
    4. Then you more precisely understand whether it suits or not and send a bunch of questions and more detailed requirements.
    5. In a number of cases, a pilot solution is raised for tasks that cannot be evaluated on standard test bases.

    Who usually comes to the solution center?
    In my practice, tops and IT specialists. The management is interested in the view from the point of view of business values; they bring examples of cases and ask how this is solved. We are demonstrating. Then the IT specialists stay and play with the test system like Russian men with a new chainsaw. Then everyone leaves to think, and after about a week there are already those who will directly service the solution in the future - and ask questions, evaluate. They give an assessment to their leaders, finalize the glad moments. A decision is made on implementation.

    Who else needs a solution center?
    • Those who want to look at new versions of software or related modules at work. As a rule, this is 80% of requests from existing customers: their specialists need to quickly and easily evaluate how much new releases are in demand.
    • Evaluation of new products: when the software just came out, and nothing is clear about it, but it solves the actual problems, you need to go and look. This is not the most common case, but the center of solutions is simply irreplaceable.
    • When you need to check the solutions of the Big Data class, for example, but there is simply no test site. You can see and evaluate on large data sets.


    What else is very important?
    Since we are modeling the infrastructure of the company, we get full software coverage. That is, we don’t show pieces like “but if we had this at the input” with a number of assumptions, we really simulate a developed software package. That is, data from financial management is immediately displayed, for example, in the remaining modules.

    In terms of coverage and comprehensiveness, the HP Solutions Center is the largest in Russia. In addition, it was created together with the vendor. Not every integrator can afford several racks in the data center for such tasks, plus you still need to assemble a team that knows the software thoroughly and how companies use it in practice in our country. Well, plus license certificates, and everything else.

    On what issues do you most often go to the solution center?


    IT planning
    • IT process management
    • IT Asset Management
    • Strategic Planning Tools in IT

    Support:
    • Monitoring AO servers, IHD and network infrastructure
    • OS monitoring and infrastructure services
    • Business Application Performance Monitoring
    • Centralized portal for monitoring IT infrastructure and application health
    • Automating server configuration management tasks
    • Automate network device configuration management tasks
    • Automation of storage resource management tasks
    • Automation of routine diagnostic processes
    • Automation of complex management workflows

    Development:
    • IaaS, PaaS and SaaS Class Self-Service Portal
    • Creation and publication of IT services
    • Managing the deployment of IT services
    • Calculation of the cost of consumption of IT services

    Security:
    • Intrusion Prevention System.
    • Reporting and monitoring system.
    • Event collection and event storage systems.
    • System of analysis, correlation and alerts.

    I was just looking for something like this, who should I write to?


    I lead the HP Solution Center and the HP Solution Team. If you are interested in looking at specific software or solutions, write to VFeldchun@croc.ru . But, in general, this HP SC is not the only CROC solution center, so if anything, you can ask in other areas, I will give the contacts of the appropriate colleague.

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