Information Technology

The information technology (IT) industry operates in a business environment where the state-of-the-art evolves faster and faster each year. IT companies must employ effective planning and proactive decision-making processes not just to stay competitive, but to stay in business. Product mixes are becoming more diverse and must be managed with sophisticated forecasting processes, portfolio analysis, and efficient Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). Supply chain networks are also growing more complex and require real-time collaboration with suppliers and customers. And, in highly competitive markets with low margins, outstanding customer service is essential.

Solutions

The Vanguard System™ is a comprehensive business solution for improving the quality, reliability, and speed of management decisions. It does this by helping you Collaborate with colleagues on important plans, Analyze alternatives using state-of-the-art modeling and simulation techniques, Automate routine decisions using expert system technology, and Improve overall management effectiveness by adding structure to a normally chaotic process.

Business improvement is all about working smarter. Vanguard brings together the people, analytics, and systems required to help your business operate intelligently. Here are just a few of the ways Vanguard supports the information technology industry:

• Project planning: IT projects are complex, operate under tight budgets and timelines, and involve many people and resources. Vanguard can help elicit input from the right people and account for risks properly during the planning phase to ensure your project will stay on budget and on schedule.
• Risk analysis: Vanguard is the first risk analysis solution that leverages the combined power of your collective intelligence and our proven analytical methods to give you complete risk-based visibility and insight into your business.
• Strategic planning: Vanguard fully quantifies the financial and operational impacts of strategic decisions at all levels of the organization.
• Demand forecasting: Predict demand for final products and raw materials, even when historical data is scarce.
• Sales and operations planning (S&OP): Enable real-time collaboration between Marketing & Sales and Operations to ensure production capacity can profitably support customer demand (and vice versa).
• Knowledge automation: Build expert systems that guide users through complex processes, such as troubleshooting, using automated question-and-answer sessions. Reduce administration costs while improving efficiency.
• Surveys and research: Know your market and understand your customers needs, wishes, and opinions using online surveys.

Content Management System (CMS)

Vanguard Content Management System (CMS) is a Web-based expert system development tool for non-programmers. CMS Web-based applications guide customers or employees through complex decision-making processes using interactive, automated question and answer sessions. They are core software applications that can improve the operational efficiency of your key business processes.

CMS applications help IT developers by providing development and process expertise to developers and program managers. Developers can answer CMS application questions about the product they are designing and receive expert answers that help them adhere to corporate development standards, locate existing specifications or components, or walk them through the development lifecycle.

CMS applications can assist IT business workers as decision-making tools that contain the knowledge of corporate subject experts. Business workers interact with CMS applications instead of starting from scratch whenever they have to make a routine decision or follow a routine operation. CMS applications ensure that decisions are consistent throughout the corporation.

CMS is a perfect solution for improving customer service. CMS product selectors can support IT product sales to help customers find the right product model or service for their needs. CMS can supply IT customer support through automated diagnostic tools that can be used internally when answering support calls or as automated self-service diagnostic tools for customers to use.