Implementation Expertise & Technical Power In this fast paced, constantly changing, squeeze out every dime, find the hidden profits, era of retailing, it becomes tougher and tougher to justify big spending on big new projects to increase profits by improving efficiency.  You've heard it before.  You've thought of it yourself. Optimizing your ERP or Store Systems Software is a clear cut cost effective solution to increased efficiency and profits. But most Professional Services firms talk a good game and then pull the old “bait and switch” – selling you top quality professional expertise of the executive team, then sending new, inexperienced consultants to do the work.  We don’t play that game.  The team you meet for your project is the team that will do the work.  And what a team it is!!!  Our senior team has over 30 years experience in large scale ERP and Store Systems implementations and a successful client “go live” list of over 30 clients.  Our group will make sure your project is always on the front burner. In short, we help you work smarter.

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Good Intentions Are Not Enough

The fundamental questions are deceptively simple: How to best perform a process?  How to optimize infrastructure?  How to solve pressing data issues and integrity issues?

But when a retailer carries thousands of products in hundreds of stores, answering those questions becomes staggeringly complex.

It's not just the overwhelming number of products, SKU’s, and product categories. It's also the complex interrelationships between those products, not to mention the variables that determine their availability. Then, of course, there are the variables relating to program versions, hardware constraints and the intricate complicate technical details of integration and connectivity.

And, when retailers have invested in Professional Services, at times their choices have made the task even more complex and frustrating.  Some retailers have acquired costly "expert firms," only to discover that they generate billable hours, schedule “status meetings”, develop complicated un-readable documentation and complicate the entire process without making and difference in the outcome, building such a complicated convoluted solution that they require a team of “experts” to run them.

Our experienced consultants can assist retailers and suppliers worldwide in analyzing existing business processes, providing recommendations to enhance operations to fit requirements. We also provide all of the services required for successful installations.  But more importantly, we don’t force you to retain our PS team for years and years, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars.  We focus on ensuring that at the end of the project, your team understands the software and has had enough knowledge transfer to run the software on your own.

Our methodology incorporates 4 distinct phases, but it is really a simple- one sentence commitment:  “We strive to ensure that every step in our implementation offers the best chance for a successful implementation and a happy client”. Refreshing?  We think this is the common sense approach to project work that has been missing from the bigger firms for some time.  This approach allows us to break down a project into easy to understand steps.

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We Think There’s Got To Be a Better Way… Selecting a new system to perform vital business functions within your organization begins with the all important requirements definition.  But sometimes, this feels like a complex and overwhelming issue. Do you understand the players in the retail space? Do you have experience in organizing and developing strategic paths for new business ventures? Have you documented your requirements carefully? Have you talked with your entire user group to build a solid foundation of business requirements? At BlackIron, we are convinced that this kind of work doesn’t have to be painful, costly and low value.  We think it can be streamlined and focused on your business.  We are sure that a good solution selection begins with a good requirements definition: It doesn’t have to take 8 weeks and $100,000 to build a requirements definition. You should organize your requirements around “distinguishing” differences between you and the rest of the retail space, not spend time detailing requirements that everyone in the business will have. You should carefully organize your interview process to follow traditional business processes through the product lifecycle, taking information from one area and cross-footing it with the next area. Your requirements definition should be the basis point for an RFP to vendors and eventually the scripted demos of the finalists

And There Is a Better Way...

Two important factors need to come together in order to successfully define the requirements for your business; understanding and alignment of your business strategies and your technology strategies.  In order to understand these 2 important areas, BlackIron focuses on building a Technology Requirements Definition and a Business Requirements Definition.  Working with you, we define your unique requirements that are essential and competitively advantageous to running your business.

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Training That Delivers Results

Since 2002, BlackIron consulting has developed an outstanding national reputation for developing and delivering high-quality, people-oriented software training and skill enhancement services to retailers and other organizations acquiring new technologies.

Our products and services include system documentation, customized training and support materials, product certification, testing analysis and reporting, web based training development and train the trainers.

Our talented consultants combine our efficient, cost-effective and proven tools and methodologies with their own extensive experience to render creative and effective programs. Their first-hand knowledge of all aspects of business and retailing is extremely valuable to our clients. And our extensive merchandise management systems experience enables BlackIron to design training services and solutions that work for retailers, large and small.

Our approach to training aims to deliver exactly what you, the customer, needs and wants. The trainers have significant experience of their topics in the “real” retail world, which enables them to design and deliver in a way appropriate and applicable to the environment in which you work.

Our emphasis is on learning that reflects real business situations, allowing participants to learn valuable skills that can be easily applied to the workplace.  Trainers use innovative techniques that can help solve some of the business problems users face, providing resources with solid, effective processes to use when they return to their work place.

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In Step With Retail In this fast paced, constantly changing, squeeze out every dime, find the hidden profits, era of retailing, it becomes tougher and tougher to justify big spending on big new projects to increase profits by improving efficiency. You’ve heard it before. You’ve thought of it yourself. Optimizing your existing Software is a clear cut cost effective solution to increased efficiency and profits. The BlackIron Difference Most Professional Services firms talk a good game and then pull the old “bait and switch” - selling you top quality professional expertise of the executive team, then sending new, inexperienced consultants to do the work. We don’t play that game.  The team you meet for your project is the team that will do the work.  And what a team it is!  Our senior team has over 30 years experience with NSB® (Epicor) & JDA®  systems, from R12 & MMS, to Connected Retailer® & PMM – Planning, Sales Audit or even CRM.   Our group will make sure your project is always on the front burner.  In short, we help you work smarter.

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What We Do

BlackIron is a full-service retail management consulting firm specializing in NSB^® (Epicor) and JDA^® products. We provide:

• "Jump Start" sessions, designed to highlight and showcase the features of the NSB product, allowing you get the most of the toolset you already own.
• Report & Modification Development - our talented pool of programmers can assist you in defining and developing custom reports or modifications in system enhancements.
• Customized Training Programs, designed to re-enforce best practice processes utilizing the systems.
• Integration or conversion to other systems - moving to another system or adding functionality with a best of breed solution?  Our programmers understand the systems schema and can quickly generate specifications and programs to pull data out of NSB® and JDA® systems and put it into other systems.