Business B is a large manufacturer of consumer products, with a relatively small and under-appreciated IT organization. It regularly purchases software solutions and maintenance contracts that provide for the special needs of specific user communities within the organization.
When Business B went into the content management marketplace, their aim was to find a state-of-the-art product that they could purchase to perform a limited set of very specific tasks. They concentrated on vendors with associations to their existing vendors and very quickly narrowed the choice down to two competing products.
Business B hired a team of three consultants to work with every division to develop a customized solution from open source components. In the process of analyzing the communication and training needs across the different divisions, the team discovered large pockets of inefficiency and waste. During the three year development cycle, the development program cost the organization approximately $17 million.
In the ensuing 5 years, it produced higher quality training deliverables consistently throughout the enterprise and contributed significantly to lowering the training costs for new employees by 38%, resulting in an average cost savings of $12 million per annum. By selecting this solution path the company identified training as one of their core competencies.