Communication and consistency across multi-part writing projects

¶ … Integrative Project

Cincom Systems

The rapid pace of innovation and continual change in the enterprise software industry forces software companies to design, deliver and support applications that can quickly react to changes in business conditions, processes and products. The software industry is in many respects a microcosm of the broader industry dynamics of many others, as the structure, economic, social and technical challenges can quickly re-orient the direction of a business. Cincom Systems is a global provider of enterprise software applications and is the focus on this capstone integrative project. Its organizational environment and structure is specifically designed to support prospects and customers through the complex process of validating and implementing enterprise software. The internal Cincom IT Department also faces significant challenges in staying current with technologies to support the global growth of the company. The economic, social and technical challenges of Cincom Systems internally are similar to those faced by their customers as well. The continual economic uncertainty, exponential growth of social media and networks including Facebook, Twitter and others, and the technology challenges of creating next-generation enterprise software make time a very precious commodity in the company.

When the concepts and frameworks of General System Theory (GST) and Socio-Technical Theory (STS) are used for evaluating the Cincom culture, it becomes clear that the pursuit of knowledge is a core value of the company. The GST and STS frameworks also are critically important for where Cincom excels and struggles in the areas of knowledge management and continual process improvement. The STS framework specifically shows how critical having roles defined in the organization that support and strengthen knowledge transfer and management for the long-term. STS-based analysis of the company indicates that the congruence of social roles to critical success factors keeps Cincom focused on the highest priority initiatives and programs. Cincom's progression on sociotechnical factors is slower than the average enterprise software company, yet has greater consensus once a decision has been reached. All of these factors contribute to a greater level of shared accountability and performance, and the ability to hold onto customers for the long-term despite significant competition in the enterprise software market.

The organizational successes and failures of Cincom, and the consequences of these decisions and strategies has defined the current opportunities and threats, and also are defining the future of the company. The successes of creating a highly profitable customer base who regularly pays a monthly maintenance charge of up to 22% of the purchase price of their software, the stability of its core management structure, and the ability to quickly innovate on the Microsoft platform are all key successes in the company. The failures include the attempts to move into new markets where Cincom has not had previous customer successes, the lack of insight into how to make Cloud Computing-based applications successful in manufacturing, and a lack of accountability for application performance in specific areas of the company. The consequences of these failures has been the gradual loss of customer confidence in the areas where Cincom has been weakest, most notably in document management and call centers. Ironically the internal CRM systems within Cincom are not as advanced as the ones they sell to their core customers. For example, Cincom does not today have a scalable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM application internally they can use to track all of their customer interactions.

A new CRM system which is flexible enough to manage the many customer interactions across the company is critically needed. Implementing a SaaS-based CRM system will be met with much resistance as the company's engineering team will feel threatened by the development and push back against it. A change management strategy that concentrates on getting the feedback of the sales teams, who will be the primary uses of the CRM system, and also the engineering team who will want to evaluate it, are both critical. This focus on shared ownership will overcome the political factors and forces that will push for the SaaS-based CRM system to be not installed and used. The sales teams however will need the system to complete more accurate quotes, orders and update customer records. The future of enterprise software is on the SaaS-based platform, and Cincom will need to embrace this direction and learn to capitalize on it in order to growth profitably in the future.

Cincom Systems Organizational Environment and Structure

Cincom Systems is organized into five separate divisions, each concentrating on enterprise software applications and platforms. All of these divisions are integrated on a common Microsoft platform or protocol stack, ensuring an high level of integration and commonality across all product lines. This has helped Cincom to compete effectively with Oracle, SAP and others from the standpoint of a unified platform strategy and showing a very high level of accountability to key prospects and buyers. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) specifically are interested in purchasing enterprise solutions only from companies who have a unified platform stack that can ensure a high level of reliability and redundancy over time. Cincom's decision to create the unified architecture has helped to attract and retain enterprise customers as a result.