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Four years ago Dennis Tortora, controller for
the world-famous piano maker Steinway & Sons,
took a long look at accounting software on the
market and "walked away realizing that the
middle market was not ready." The middle market,
in his definition, is the software that's been
developed for companies who need a whole lot
more functionality than a shrink-wrapped $199
software package off a retail shelf, but they
don't need to pay a $100,000-plus price tag.
Tortora knew exactly what he wanted: an
accounting and business management package that
was as finely constructed and as tightly tuned
as one of Steinway's handmade pianos, considered
by many to be the finest in the world. At the
time, Steinway was using a "homegrown"
accounting system that was programmed in COBOL
on an HP3000. For Tortora and the 25 users who
needed to access information from the system,
which includes customer service and two remote
locations, it was apparent that Steinway needed
to completely throw out the old system and start
over.
The homegrown system just wasn't capable of
giving Steinway executives the information they
needed to manage the company. Steinway & Sons
CEO Bruce Stevens said, "This was less of a cost
issue than a critical business issue. Our
previous system just couldn't provide the
management team with the information we needed,
how we needed it."
But Tortora couldn't find the software he
needed at a price he was willing to pay, so he
waited. It wasn't until the Spring of 1996 when
"I began the process again in earnest."
Steinway's approach to the process is a
textbook case of how the process should work,
according to the Navision Solution Center who
ultimately won their confidence and the
business. "Dennis Tortora and his staff went
through one of the most thorough processes that
we've seen," said Larry Schiff, president of
Business Management International (BMI) in New
York. "Many companies can learn a tot from the
way Steinway approached the selection process."
Helpful Tools
Tortora began his selection process by
acquiring two tools: The Accounting Library
(published by Solutions, Inc. in Richmond, Va.)
and The Requirements Analyst (published by
Rockville, Md., Computer Training Services,
Inc.). Both of these are evaluative software
packages that ask questions of the user and then
deliver a short list which ranks all the
packages that best meet the needs of a company.
Navision's software, Navision Financials,
ranked in the top five for both packages. "While
these were helpful, I would never make a final
selection based on this because the information
may be outdated, Tortora said. "However, these
tools are excellent places to begin a search."
One of the first steps Tortora's team
undertook was to implement a 1,500 question
survey found in The Requirements Analyst. Every
user in the company took the survey including
employees in customer service, accounting,
senior management and order entry. Once all of
the surveys were filled out, Tortora gathered
the review team together, and they developed a
consensus answer for each one of the 1,500
questions.
In addition to helping Tortora rank software
packages, the guides became source material for
a handbook that assisted Tortora with the
decision-making process. "We used the guides to
literally create a book, with chapters for every
step." Tortora and his team would review a
chapter each week. His team included the
director of MIS, which reports to Tortora, and
his key accounting staff -- the directors of
general accounting and cost accounting and two
staff accountants.
More Research
Steinway's research also led them to an
accounting software trade show, SoftEx. "I went
to the show with three of my directors and
talked to every vendor for two solid days,"
Tortora said. "I went to find out the things
software solutions didn't do well, to clear up
any confusion we had about the solutions and to
get a hands-on feel for the manufacturer of the
software and its vendors.
"I was bowled over by the professional, yet
low-key approach of BMI, the Navision Solution
Center. We had a very good meeting and when we
came back to our offices, we went through our
notes and selected Navision and one other
software company as our leading candidates. The
next step was to invite them to Steinway for a
presentation.
"I was really impressed with the software,
the Navision Solution Center and the level of
support to the Solution Center from Navision
Software US. At Steinway, we develop
relationships with our customers and vendors,
and we saw a lot of us in Navision Software. We
are a world-class company, and they are a
world-class software solution."
Tortora said that if he had to narrow it down
to the two main reasons Steinway selected
Navision, it would have to be the robustness of
the software and its affordability. Steinway
purchased every one of the granules sold by
Navision Software, with the exception of
Payroll, which is currently outsourced to ADP.
In addition to the two main reasons Steinway
chose Navision Financials, Tortora listed the
following four attributes, which also made the
selection process easy:
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Navision Financials'
simplicity of design. "it is very easy to
use."
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The product has powerful features and the
Navision Solution Center could
effectively demonstrate
them. "The key feature was the drill-down
capability -- this was the most
impressive feature yet it was so simple to
do."
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The solution is a very cost-effective
answer to the technology question of how to upgrade.
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Navision Financials is a multinational,
multicurrency and multilingual solution. It
has all of the
high-end features at a middle-market price.
The installation process has now begun for
both Steinway & Sons and the Boston Piano
Company, a subsidiary.
Steinway will be using Navision's Internet
capabilities to have sales managers communicate
and send information while they're on the road
and they'll have it linked to the remote stores
as well as customer service. "Ultimately, we'll
have our dealer network online and they'll be
able to link up the status of their orders. I
know they will be very excited about those
capabilities," Tortora said.
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