Social Media Product Launch and Project Management to ERP Software Group

Challenge: Launch Social Media Communities on organization’s website in response to member demand in a tight timeframe
By: Lawrence Bennett Trillium Solutions Group
 
Jan. 2, 2013 - PRLog -- ERP User Group

Engagement: Social Media Product Launch

Trillium Helps ERP User Group Add Social Media Communities

Trillium’s client is an ERP Software User Group representing 100,000 individuals at 3,200 companies in 17 industries. The Group has 37 chapters across the US and Canada, and 90 Special Interest Groups.

Challenge: Launch Social Media Communities on organization’s website in response to member demand in a tight timeframe

Trillium was engaged to leverage its expertise bringing online products to market. The client sought help adding two new social networking products to its website. Research indicated that members wanted:

•A database of service providers that included ratings and reviews generated by other members

•A tool that allowed members to build and manage a network of their peers online

The Board had instructed senior management that it wanted the association’s site rebranded and these two products added before its annual meeting. Development was behind schedule because requirements had not been finalized and there was no overall project plan that integrated efforts of marketing, member services, engineering and QA. The products were in danger of not launching on time, which would have a material impact on the association’s ability to generate new revenue in the future.
Trillium Solution: An analysis and re-plan of the project and technology selection with new tools and processes followed by rapid project deployment

Trillium’s client, a highly respected user group for a popular suite of ERP software, was adding new products to its website in order to improve member satisfaction and generate new revenue streams. The client had never charged its members for anything other than dues. The idea of charging for access to data that had been available but not organized in a usable or searchable manner was a considerable change for the organization.

The Trillium team began by identifying gaps in product requirements and drafting a comprehensive launch plan. Trillium’s cross-functional approach brought internal and external support resources to bear and created a single point of accountability for launch.

The business plan for the network management tool called for revenue to be generated from ad sales. Trillium drafted the requirements for an ad platform and interviewed several ad server vendors. The team analyzed the start-up and expansion costs and made a recommendation to senior management.

Finally, the client’s organization needed to be built out to support the products after launch. The requirements included registration support, payment support, password reset support, and a process to allow vendors in the database to challenge ratings they felt were inaccurate. Trillium worked with member services and development to find and implement solutions to these challenges using a repeatable, rapid deployment approach. This allowed the organization to manage the increased workload on time and without additional staff resources.

Results: Repeatable processes to manage on-time project launch, system selection, and revenue generation without additional staff

By introducing project management tools and improving the client’s internal processes, Trillium’s expert consultants helped the client to:

•Finalize product feature set, design user interface and draft product copy
•Complete initial focus group testing of the features to collect branding, messaging and pricing data
•Cultivate and engage members to act as product testers & evangelists
•Determine the process and minimize the resource impact to the member services team
•Select a third party online ad server platform to support revenue generation
•Complete development of the tools within the timeframes established by the Board and senior management in time for the annual meeting

In addition, the client now has the repeatable processes and templates available to launch and manage future project implementations.

About Trillium

Trillium Solutions Group, Inc. is a professional services firm headquartered in Chicago that provides technology consulting and strategic sourcing services for industries such as trade associations, financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare. For more information, please visit www.trilliumsg.com.
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Source:Lawrence Bennett Trillium Solutions Group
Email:***@wencelworldwide.com Email Verified
Tags:Business Consulting, Technology Consulting, Strategic Sourcing Services, Telecommunications
Industry:Technology, Media
Location:Chicago - Illinois - United States
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