| | MARCH 20229CIOReviewAn FSM Tool makes the most impact in industries where they are field services to operate such as Repair & Installation Services, Delivery Services, Order Fulfillment (if you connect your Order platform to an FSM tool), and transportation services.Does it matter after COVID19?The last 8 months are driving a foundational change in how customers consume products and services. These changes are going to stay for a much longer time after we are past COVID19 as people get acclimated to how to engage with their favorite brands or order their most-used services from a point of convenience rather than physically visiting a place. Yes, people will be out in full force once we get past the brunt of the Pandemic but after the initial surge in outdoor activities when things normalize people, people will fall back to the convenience of ordering products and services from the comfort of their home or picking up something curbside. Now that you know, where do you start?As an IT professional, the first thing you do is define your problem statement and then spend the time with your stakeholders to map out the requirements. Once you map out your requirements, spend the time to stack rank them based on priorities and impact on Key Business Metrics. Then you develop your key requirement user stories that demonstrate what metric you are trying to influence and why.Each step of the way you have to make sure that the IT Team is connected to the Business team whose problem you are trying to solve. I cannot stress enough about stakeholder engagement and expectations management. This is where most enterprise projects fail.Once the Requirements and Problem Statement information is ready you can use it to build an RFP document and start your process of soliciting responses from potential solution providers and get more information on pricing. My advice would be to do some research online or through publications like CIO Magazine or Gartner to determine who to invite to your RFP. Once you receive proposals and pricing information and you zero in on your top 1 ­ 2 choices, the final step is to develop a business case that connects the Total Cost of Ownership (Software License Cost, Implementation costs for Internal & External Resources, Change Management Costs and Hardware Costs) to Improvements in Key Business Outcomes such as improvement in Productivity, First Time Completes, Customer Satisfaction, Reduction in Travel time. The Business Case is crucial to understand the costs vs benefit of software deployment. The Business Case will give you your truth on what you should be doing next.Once the Business Case directs you to move forward based on the math, you can start negotiating contracts with the potential solution providers on license and implementation costs. Most Software providers either do their own implementations or can direct you to one of their preferred vendors who can implement this for you.Final comment, most software deployments don't fail because the software itself is bad but they fail because either there was no upfront planning (requirements, user stories, and resources needed) or because there was no stakeholder buy-in. The software vendor has an inherent interest for their product to succeed so if you go in with a smart plan and you choose the right implementation partner to hammer out the right contractual conditions, you're off to the races.BIO:Mo Dastagir is the Chief Information Officer at Cresco Labs. He is responsible for overseeing the technological and data infrastructure throughout Cresco and designing, scaling and implementing technological systems and data platforms to optimize the customer experience.Mr. Dastagir joined Cresco from Sears Holding Corporation, where he served as Vice President and Chief Technology Officer with responsibilities for managing all technology programs designed to drive growth and improve profitability in the Sears Home Services (SHS) Business. During his tenure, the highly profitable SHS business made several technology investments to intensify its focus on providing a best-in-class and differentiated experience in the Home Appliance Repair and Home Services category. Prior to Sears, Mr. Dastagir spent eight years in Switzerland working at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and RochePharmaceuticals as part of a strategic team leading technology transformations in highly regulated portfolios such as Diabetes Care and Pharma Drug Development. As part of the Diabetes Care IT leadership team, he was responsible for the digitization of the Diabetes Care portfolio into a remote care management powerhouse. Prior to Switzerland, Mr. Dastagir spent time in India as one of the first five employees at Amazon Hyderabad who helped lay the foundation for what has turned into Amazon.com's India operations today. He was part of the leadership team responsible for setting up a new technology operations center in India and moving functions from various locations in the United States to the new facility.Mr. Dastagir earned his bachelor's degree in Business from India's Osmania University and holds a Master of Business Administration degree in International Business degree from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India. As an IT professional, the first thing you do is define your problem statement and then spend the time with your stakeholders to map out the requirements
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