Shorter Cycles / Smaller Batches: With a Phased Approach

How do you shorten the cycle and reduce the batch size in large scale systems?

I was on a call with Gartner Research the other day,  briefing them on the ILANTUS approach to delivering Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions to our customers. During the briefing, we discussed our vision and ability to deliver value using shorter cycles / smaller batches. They explained that they are hearing the same thing from their customers – going away are the days of spending more money (multiples more) on product implementation consulting than you do on the product itself. Customers are demanding that they realize value more quickly and with less money. They want to see not only higher ROI (return on investment), but also quicker time to value.

They then asked “How are you doing this?” I explained that we are implementing shorter / smaller in short cycles, and had not yet figured it all out. So far, we have done the following:

1. ILANTUS developed IP has been created to lend itself to rapid deployment and quick delivery. So when we are implementing our products, this is relatively simple to do.

2. For implementations that include both ILANTUS products and large scale systems, we implement ILANTUS products first, or at least in a parallel track, so that value is delivered quickly.

3. For the larger legacy type packages that traditionally take a long time, we have shrunk the requirements-design-develop-test-production cycle by working in phases. For example, if there are 10 applications to integrate into the system, we break it up and go thru the entire cycle with 3 applications, then 3 more, then the remaining 4.

Where we are now is looking at how to increase the feedback loop in each of the steps in the requirements-design-develop-test-production cycle. I’ll discuss more about how we are doing that in another post.

Ultimately, what I believe we’ll need to do is to break out of the R-D-D-T-P cycle altogether.