Rating: 
Summary: A consultant's perspective from the UK
Review: To be honest, I was worried that this book might put me, and a large proportion of the consultancy profession, out of a job. With things as they are, it wouldn't have taken much! I needn't have been concerned. The book is so long at over 400 pages that most potential clients probably won't be bothered to read it all, and those that do will realise that it's a sufficiently complex subject that calling up the cavalry is likely to be the most effective approach, at least first time round. Unsurprisingly, in view of the authors representing a large proportion of the senior management of Tenrox, this would make an extremely good text book for ERP or CRM salesmen who have identified a brand new seam to be mined. The content will effectively allow them to short circuit the process of developing convincing arguments for investment. This actually shouldn't be too difficult, although perhaps I'm biased about the potential benefits that holistic PSA systems could bring to service sector organisations. Even those in other sectors with significant internal service departments (well, those organisations that haven't discovered the mixed blessings of outsourcing) would benefit enormously. So what is actually in the book? Well, to start with there's a Foreword from Ted Kempf of Gartner Dataquest (still smarting at Aberdeen's David Hofferberth pre-empting the invention of the definitive TLA for the market) who has only apparently managed to identify 28 PSA vendors, when it's actually nearer a hundred - and still counting. If you want to sound knowledgable without spending too much time reading, then the Preface and Part 1 effectively explain and summarise what PSA (or SPO, or ESM, or whatever your preferred analyst chooses to call it) actually is. The bulk of the book is to be found in Part 2, which lists and explains the relevant characteristics of all the components of a PSA system. This is not rocket science by any means, but the explanations put the software into a business context. Add this to a good book on running a professional firm (anything by Maister!) and you have the essential elements to begin to re-engineer your service organisation for the twenty-first century. First time through you could probably afford to skip Part 3, which is a worthy but unremarkable exposition of how the selection and implementation process should be approached, as well as Part 4 which is a surprisingly brief look into the future of PSA. Perhaps that's because it doesn't mention Microsoft! Among the Appendices is to be found a template Request for Proposal. This is mainly what gave me concerns regarding my redundancy, but while it actually represents a good guide for the production of a real-life RfP, a lot more work would actually need to be done to tailor it to the needs of a specific service organisation. Whew . . . Overall I have to congratulate the authors on taking on a big challenge. It used to be that IBM would educate a market before selling into it. In their absence the guys from Tenrox have made an extremely brave attempt, which I am sure will prove of benefit to all participants in the PSA sector.
Rating:
Summary: A consultant's perspective from the UK
Review: To be honest, I was worried that this book might put me, and a large proportion of the consultancy profession, out of a job. With things as they are, it wouldn't have taken much! I needn't have been concerned. The book is so long at over 400 pages that most potential clients probably won't be bothered to read it all, and those that do will realise that it's a sufficiently complex subject that calling up the cavalry is likely to be the most effective approach, at least first time round. Unsurprisingly, in view of the authors representing a large proportion of the senior management of Tenrox, this would make an extremely good text book for ERP or CRM salesmen who have identified a brand new seam to be mined. The content will effectively allow them to short circuit the process of developing convincing arguments for investment. This actually shouldn't be too difficult, although perhaps I'm biased about the potential benefits that holistic PSA systems could bring to service sector organisations. Even those in other sectors with significant internal service departments (well, those organisations that haven't discovered the mixed blessings of outsourcing) would benefit enormously. So what is actually in the book? Well, to start with there's a Foreword from Ted Kempf of Gartner Dataquest (still smarting at Aberdeen's David Hofferberth pre-empting the invention of the definitive TLA for the market) who has only apparently managed to identify 28 PSA vendors, when it's actually nearer a hundred - and still counting. If you want to sound knowledgable without spending too much time reading, then the Preface and Part 1 effectively explain and summarise what PSA (or SPO, or ESM, or whatever your preferred analyst chooses to call it) actually is. The bulk of the book is to be found in Part 2, which lists and explains the relevant characteristics of all the components of a PSA system. This is not rocket science by any means, but the explanations put the software into a business context. Add this to a good book on running a professional firm (anything by Maister!) and you have the essential elements to begin to re-engineer your service organisation for the twenty-first century. First time through you could probably afford to skip Part 3, which is a worthy but unremarkable exposition of how the selection and implementation process should be approached, as well as Part 4 which is a surprisingly brief look into the future of PSA. Perhaps that's because it doesn't mention Microsoft! Among the Appendices is to be found a template Request for Proposal. This is mainly what gave me concerns regarding my redundancy, but while it actually represents a good guide for the production of a real-life RfP, a lot more work would actually need to be done to tailor it to the needs of a specific service organisation. Whew . . . Overall I have to congratulate the authors on taking on a big challenge. It used to be that IBM would educate a market before selling into it. In their absence the guys from Tenrox have made an extremely brave attempt, which I am sure will prove of benefit to all participants in the PSA sector.
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