Q5 What would you do differently?
No project, as Aniol inferred, goes perfectly. There are always lessons to be learnt from them. It is in learning from the issues that arise that improvements are made to the process. Learning from the hindsight of others may mean your own project is more successful, or at least avoids some of the pitfalls of others.
When asked the question Aniol considered his response but quickly acknowledged that mistakes had been made.
“When we were doing the implementation we could have spent a few more Professional Services dollars with NetSuite to have them do some of the data migration from Intaact to NetSuite. Firmly in the category of Penny Wise and Tom Foolish I didn’t do that and that added a heck of a lot more time to my team as part of that process and looking back probably the NPS could have done that a lot more efficiently than we would have been able to.
“Really think about what your team is best able to do and what the NPS team is best able to do, and don’t be short sighted about making the initial investment.”
Q6 What Business transformation has occurred?
Most successful software projects involve some business process change. Finding out what changed for the better (one hopes) in the reference company, the successes and failures can help your own projects succeed.
Business transformation was not part of Aniol’s reason for the implementation but his answer was interesting none the less.
“We did change a few processes, but not because of implementation.”
INXPO use workflows within Salesforce within the business and with the tight integration between NetSuite and Salesforce they were able to extend those workflows still further. Aniol explained that the implementation enabled subsequent business transformation to be accomplished easily, its implementation no longer held them back.
In asking a question of a more mature company this can provide some insights into what changes you might consider for your own company. You may even be able to discuss the challenges of business transformation and compare notes around communication and some of the hurdles that need to be overcome.
Conclusion
These are not the only questions to ask when doing references. It is wise to have a number worked out ahead of time. Asking open questions allows the interviewee to talk about their experiences at length revealing information and supplementary questions. In the interest of time most supplementary questions can be closed and used to seek specific understanding and facts.
In seeking references I used to have a check box list of things to tick off that I wanted to cover. In many cases most questions are answered in the first monologue, but sometimes it is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of something mentioned during the call.
For Aniol the NetSuite project was a success, he added: “It’s been a good three years for us, to be honest”. However talking about it and proving it are often difficult to reconcile. INXPO has enjoyed a 30%+ growth year on year since the implementation, which is above the industry average and is one indication that NetSuite has at least been an enabler in that growth.
Another is that Aniol has not increased his headcount within the finance team during that period. Understanding how the short term goals of the project translate into long goals for the company is always worth considering both when talking to a reference and considering your own projects.
I have always found references to be a good way of networking, by the end of the reference it can become more of a discussion around pertinent topics such as transformational change and business benefits of technology. This can form the basis of a longer relationship, in fact some of my CIO contacts were as a result of references I carried out, both giving and asking for them.
