SAP Customer Success Story

With SAP xRPM, not only are we able to please our customers and improve project efficiencies we now have the ability to manage our growth and assume a leadership position in the Latin American market.
Carlos Cruz, Managing Director, Agile Solutions

AT A GLANCE
Company Name Agile Solutions, Brazil www.agilesolutions.com Industry IT consulting Key Challenges Visibility across project portfolio Project execution efficiency Managing rapid growth Customer collaboration

AGILE SOLUTIONS
SAP xApp RESOURCE AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT GIVES A YOUNG COMPANY A PLATFORM FOR GROWTH

Implementation Partner SAP Consulting Solution and Services SAP xApp Resource and Program Management SAP NetWeaver Existing Environment SAP R/3 mySAP Customer Relationship Management Implementation Highlights Implementation length: 12 weeks 100 users Key Benefits Enhanced ability to identify at-risk projects Vastly improved project efficiency Improved ability to enter new markets Gained new customers Improved collaboration with clients and partners Reduced time and costs for assimilating new employees Hardware Dell Operating System Microsoft Windows 2000

With a constant eye on the future, Agile Solutions wanted a platform for growth one that would give it the kind of business agility the company adopted for its namesake. What we needed, says Carlos Cruz, managing director of Agile Solutions, was a platform that would empower us to collaborate fully with our clients, incorporate new business partners on short notice, and standardize the process of bringing on new employees as we continue to grow. And we needed a system that could do all of these things at the same time. It helps that Agile also has a pioneering spirit. Thats why when SAP introduced SAP xApp Resource and Program Management (SAP xRPM), a new packaged composite application that manages the details of large-scale projects and the resources associated with them, Agile became one of the first companies to adopt it. Based in So Paulo, Brazil, Agile Solutions is a young company growing up fast. With $15 million in 2003 revenues, this successful IT consulting company has expanded to more than 170 employees in just three years. In addition to Brazil, Agile also has operations in Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. Its rapidly growing client base includes companies from a wide array of industries including pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.

STARTING OVER EVERY TIME

WHY SAP?

As an IT consulting company, Agile Solutions knows that success depends on its ability to please its customers with exceptional service. Projects need to be on time and on budget, and throughout the project life cycle, customers need to be informed of whats happening with constant updates and progress evaluations. Keenly aware of the importance of customer service, Agile has built a solid reputation for thoroughness, professionalism, and speed all of which are crucial to its ability to win business in its competitive industry. In the software services field, however, all business is projectbased. For each new project, companies must expend considerable time and effort to line up resources, evaluate capacity, and identify available consultants with the appropriate skill sets. For us it was a very manual, haphazard process, says Cruz. There was no systematic way to go about it. Basically, project planners would meet face-to-face and work out the details. It took time a lot of time. And once a project got up and running? Agile needed a more efficient way to coordinate details a standardized process that would work with each new project. During project execution, for example, managers needed a single point of access to all information related to the project. Transparency for budgets, schedules, financial risk, and resource information was also critical. In addition, all of this would need to tie into back-end ERP systems such as SAP R/3 and project management systems such as Microsoft Project. And it would all need to be Web-based to accommodate the needs of remote project managers and customers alike. While Agile already had the abilities to do much of this, processes were not standardized. It was often a case of reinventing the wheel with each new project, says Cruz.

Many of Agiles customers already use SAP back-end systems to run their businesses. And Agile itself is an SAP development partner running SAP R/3 internally. Experience with the technology and a solid working relationship with SAP, combined, make for a solid match. But Agile saw something more in SAP xRPM. Due to the projectcentered nature of its business, Agile needed open standards in order to work closely with a wide range of newly acquired clients
SAP xRPM has given us the visibility we need to get the right resources to the right projects at the right time. Our clients can now follow every detail with us right over the Internet. This has helped us boost customer satisfaction levels to new heights.
Carlos Cruz, Managing Director, Agile Solutions

and business partners. It also needed a cross-functional solution that would work across traditional boundaries: organizational, technological, and geographical. This is part of the strength offered by SAP xRPM and all of the solutions that make up the SAP xApps family of composite applications. The technical foundation for SAP xApps is SAP NetWeaver, an open integration and application platform that aligns people, information, and processes across organizations and technologies. As Cruz explains it: SAP NetWeaver is like plumbing in the house. You dont see it, but it keeps everything together.

Leveraging the integrative power of SAP NetWeaver, SAP xRPM sits on top of Agiles IT landscape and orchestrates data and components from existing systems in a way that minimizes total cost of ownership for existing assets. It also gives Agile increased powers to manage the myriad details for each project and to collaborate with customers at a more intimate level.
A SMOOTH IMPLEMENTATION

STREAMLINING TASKS

While real-time customer collaboration is a major benefit, Agile also uses SAP xRPM to streamline internal project tasks. Managers can track status and compare actual progress against original schedules and budgets. They can also drill down by region, functional area, and other criteria. This helps executives identify at-risk projects before crises develop.
SAP xRPM helps us monitor, analyze, and manage projects more effectively, which mitigates our risk by reducing project failure rates. This helps us deliver projects that are on time and on budget. In our business, thats a real competitive advantage.
Carlos Cruz, Managing Director, Agile Solutions

Agiles SAP xRPM implementation started in July of 2003 and lasted just 10 weeks. No underlying infrastructure changes were required. Two SAP consultants were on-site full time to lend a hand. Agile also has ongoing access to SAP technical support. Along the way, minor problems involving incompatible components were quickly addressed with the latest release of SAP NetWeaver. The biggest challenge for Agile was organizational in nature. Strong leadership was required from the earliest stages. SAP xRPM changes the way we relate to our customers, says Cruz. As with any company-transforming IT project, it is important for management to lead the way to ensure end-user acceptance. In this regard, Agile found the user-friendly nature of SAP xRPM helpful. Role-based Web interfaces deliver only the information the user needs and help minimize the need for training.
PUTTING THE CUSTOMER FIRST

With an intense focus on customer satisfaction, Agile first concentrated on the portfolio analysis features that would deliver value to its customer base. Our customers want to get their projects completed on time and on budget, Cruz explains. And SAP xRPM helps us meet their expectations. With SAP, our customers can track a project right along with us over the Internet, which helps ensure timely completion and the best possible use of resources. SAP xRPM even lets us show the customer a variety of possible scenarios so they can choose the best solution for their needs. That results in a more effective project and greater customer satisfaction.

Another important concern is capacity management: the ability to utilize and allocate resources in order to maximize assets. With an at-a-glance view of resource availability versus allocation, Agile now has the ability to know how many people are working on a given project and which people can be switched to new projects to meet emerging demands. This helps the company measure its capacity to take on new projects and execute tasks more efficiently once a project is under way. A related capability that Agile now enjoys is systematized expertise management. Through the use of a detailed qualification catalog that links directly to the back-end human resources system, SAP xRPM helps automate the process of identifying qualified professionals. Managers can quickly determine who has the right skill set, check availability, and assign people accordingly. Or as Cruz puts it: Now we have the ability to put the right people in the right place.

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THE RESULTS

To measure the success of any implementation, Agile Solutions uses an internal balanced scorecard that helps evaluate the results. Cruz says that SAP xRPM helps his company in three significant ways: Increased Efficiencies and Reduced Costs With abilities to quickly ascertain the activities of its consultants, measure capacity, track project progress, and more easily collaborate with customers, Agile Solutions has significantly increased project-related efficiencies. SAP xRPM also helps Agile align skill sets for project requirements and quickly identify the qualifications needed for new hires. With increased visibility across projects, managers can now identify how many of its consultants are currently engaged and to what capacity they are working. This helps boost productivity and reduce costs. Improved Customer Satisfaction In the IT consulting business, word gets around. In this kind of environment one significant measure of improved customer satisfaction is new customer acquisitions. After implementing SAP xRPM, Agile Solutions acquired three new customers all as a result of the companys new capabilities. Customers want reassurances, says Cruz. They want to see a clear methodology in place for tracking and sharing information. When we demonstrate the capabilities of SAP xRPM, it helps close the deal. Streamlined Processes for Growth As a young company on the rise, Agile Solutions wanted a platform it could invest in once and grow from there. By standardizing critical processes surrounding Agiles core competency of custom solution development, SAP xRPM helps the company

manage growth. Particularly important is the ability to quickly assimilate new employees. According to Cruz, SAP xRPM has helped his company standardize development and product quality so that people who are new to the organization are now working as if they were long-time employees.
NEW DIRECTIONS

With SAP xRPM, Agile Solutions now has a better, faster, more flexible way to go after new customers no matter where those customers may be. Many of Agiles current and potential customers have operations in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, and Europe. Dealing with multinational clients, its not unusual for the company to find itself working with smaller local providers during various aspects of a project. And as Cruz indicates: SAP xRPM gives us the flexibility to partner with any of these local providers quickly and easily. This improves our ability to offer truly global solutions to our biggest clients. Agile also has future plans to build off the success of its SAP xRPM implementation. Many of these plans will leverage the same cross-functional capabilities that are already helping Agile increase collaboration in numerous areas. One particular initiative will be to integrate with mySAP Customer Relationship Management so that Agile can offer remote help-desk support for the solutions it builds. This will help the company seize lucrative aftermarket opportunities that were previously not feasible. Other initiatives, though yet unannounced, will similarly build off of Agiles enhanced abilities to move into new markets and quickly ramp up for a wide range of collaborative business activities.

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