CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

11 February 2009

Product News

Sopheon Launches Enhanced Version of Accolade® Product Lifecycle Management Software

Sopheon announced availability of an enhanced version of its Accolade product portfolio and innovation process management solution. Features being introduced in the software provide advanced decision support to help senior executives more effectively prioritize product innovation investments and keep available resources focused on projects promising high business returns. The new capabilities are expected to bring immediate value to recession-plagued companies that need to reduce costs and are concerned about undercutting long-term growth strategies.

This is the most uncertain business environment many organizations have ever faced. No one is able to confidently predict the recession’s depth or duration. Business leaders are being forced to continually reconsider strategies and adjust plans and priorities based on a nonstop infusion of new, mostly negative data. One thing is sure. There will be winners and losers. A study of more than 400 companies and their performance before, during and after the last recession showed that four out of 10 changed competitive position. On average, two fell back, and two surged ahead.*  Evidence is growing that spending on product innovation not only helps to sustain business success during a downturn, it generates dramatic financial benefits when markets recover. A study by the Strategic Planning Institute found that, during the past 30 years, companies that continued to invest in innovation during periods of recession generated 23.8% returns on capital employed when turnarounds occurred, compared with 0.6% for organizations that cut product development budgets.** Innovation has the capacity to transform crisis into opportunity.

New Accolade Gives Product Innovators Five Critical Advantages In Addressing Recessionary Challenges

In today’s turbulent markets, the ability to make product innovation decisions and portfolio adjustments quickly is not only a competitive differentiator, it is a survival skill. Nonetheless, many companies struggle with indecision. Sometimes it is because they are unable to get a clear picture of where they are spending their innovation resources. Frequently, decision-making is slowed or weakened by the fact that executives, project leaders and innovation teams have difficulty accessing the data needed to make sound judgments. As a result, they are vulnerable to moving with too little information or preparation and making faulty choices, delaying actions or overlooking potentially strong options. Portfolios become unbalanced. Low-value projects are allowed to sap valuable resources and high-potential initiatives starve due to lack of support. In the end, business suffers.

Accolade software brings together the critical pieces necessary in any economic climate to drive business results from product innovation: strategic planning, portfolio management, and end-to-end process automation and governance. The solution’s value is amplified during a recession because it provides planning and decision-making support that helps companies not only optimize returns from available resources while times are tough, but to develop programs and strategies that will allow them to accelerate out of the downturn and emerge with increased competitive strength. Through their use of Accolade, organizations are able to:

1) Improve strategic agility and “uncertainty planning”

The depth of today’s economic and market uncertainty calls for a just-in-time approach to strategy setting. Accolade supports agility in strategic planning by moving decision-relevant information both vertically and horizontally inside the organization. The flow of data permits senior executives to know and react when project details change or external events suddenly demand adjustments or refinements to active strategies. It also sparks the insight needed to formulate strategic and tactical options that can be launched preemptively when conditions begin to improve. Accolade helps reduce uncertainty and risk by making it possible to precisely map market, competitor and technology developments and  analyze their probable impact. The software’s charts and reports are rooted in key metrics and best-practice algorithms that enable what-if analyses of proposed strategies. Features such as threaded discussions and alerts inform executive decision-makers, project leaders and team members of changes to strategies, initiatives and metrics, and let them know when action is required.

2) Make faster, better-informed portfolio decisions

Strong portfolio management helps organizations optimize limited resources.  Accolade makes it possible to see in real time where innovation resources are invested. The solution’s dashboards consolidate, aggregate and present metrics so that information can be monitored at a glance. Reports generated by the Accolade system show progress toward goals, where imbalances exist and where action needs to be taken. The new version of the software allows all innovation plans and projects—even those not managed by gated processes—to be stored in one place so that access is quick and easy. The resulting visibility and transparency make it possible for even the most complex organizations to react with speed to changing market conditions, moving proactively and decisively to preserve cash and optimize the value of innovation investments to the business.  

3) Identify, prioritize and act on the most promising innovation opportunities

Benchmarking studies have shown that, for many companies, project prioritization and selection are the weakest areas of product innovation management.  The importance of such shortcomings is magnified in a down economy. These competencies are essential to making the right short-term decisions on how to cut costs and preserve cash. They are also key to protecting and advancing those innovation projects that promise to have the greatest positive impact on long-term strategic and financial business goals. Accolade allows users to separate winning products from losers early in the development cycle and to keep investments concentrated on high-value opportunities. Resources can be balanced on multiple levels: companywide, by business unit, product line or technology. Software features such as scorecards, tailored selection criteria, resource reports and information-gathering and presentation templates grounded in best practices strengthen process governance and minimize innovation risk. Collectively, these capabilities help make it possible for innovation teams to execute projects with predictable performance, and to meet forecasted business goals.

4) Keep daily operational activities aligned with organizational strategies for growth  

An estimated 65% of companies struggle to keep product portfolios and operational and project activity aligned with corporate strategic plans. Lack of alignment can result in a variety of problems: spending waste, wrong priorities, low morale and loss of revenues and profits to name a few. Sopheon’s solution creates an automated process and decision framework that continually reconciles strategic product planning and operational execution. Gate decisions improve because they include consideration of strategic plans and operational and external issues. Projects are measured against corporate goals, ensuring that the performance objectives of individual groups and teams support strategies. At the same time, product development teams can make decisions more quickly and in the context of strategy, with an understanding of how one decision affects others.

5) Cut costs by improving innovation process and team efficiencies

According to recent research, companies whose product lifecycle management priorities include deployment of technology applications such as Sopheon’s Accolade can reduce product development costs by 30% or more. With Accolade, the savings happen because users are able to identify and abandon low-value or non-strategic projects early, before valuable resources are spent on development. Once projects are selected for completion, they are done right. Labor costs drop because the software's planning capabilities help optimize staff utilization and eliminate uncertainty about product innovation priorities. Process inefficiencies are easy to spot and can be corrected promptly. The new version of Accolade relieves the administrative burden of project management. Advanced integration with other technology platforms enables product innovation teams to organize and complete work faster while eliminating duplication in data entry and minimizing errors. As a result, project costs are lower and rework is virtually eliminated.

“Today’s economic crisis is a time of great opportunity for companies that understand the business importance of continued, prudent investment in product innovation,” said Andy Michuda, Sopheon’s chief executive officer. “Since the market downturn, a growing list of top organizations such as Bayer HealthCare, Burger King, Novartis, PepsiCo and the U.S. Army have adopted our software. At the same time, current customers such as General Motors, Medtronic, Lockheed Martin, SABMiller and Verizon Wireless are expanding the use of our solutions across their organizations. Anecdotal evidence indicates that increasingly, these investments are being made not in spite of the recession, but because of it. The reason is that Accolade helps organizations make the hard decisions about where to cut product innovation costs, and enables them to do what’s necessary to protect the investments and programs that will shape and assure their futures.”

The latest version of Sopheon’s Accolade software is available immediately for purchase and implementation.

* Study by Diamond Management & Technology Consultants

** "Profit Impact of Market Strategy" (PIMS) study

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