SAP Crystal Solutions demos and tools overview

Crystal Solutions

Having had the chance to look at the demos for SAP Crystal Solutions, I will first say that I like the way these tools are presented for the most part, with one reservation. The explanations and demos are clear and easy to understand. The way the information is managed, especially with the graphs, is smart-looking and professional. The tools themselves are fairly intuitive and I think that is something that comes across in the demos and website as well. The main reservation that I have is that the presentation really seems geared to the end user. I think if I was trying to make an actual sales decision, I am not being given much opportunity to do a cost-benefit analysis. Yet, before I want to take to a sales representative, I want a sense if such a conversation is truly worth my time.

I think these tools are excellent, however, in terms of the way they explain the system and the way that the Crystal Solutions system in particular can help the business. I hope that the system would be fully customizable because there is where I see the most value in Crystal Solutions -- to give my managers what they need when they need it. I think that the demo/promotional tools do an excellent job of making the end user feel comfortable that they will be able to figure out the system and starting gaining value from it quite quickly. That is important, because there is always resistance in an organization when a new information system is being introduced. The workers and managers need to see the value in it right away.

The marketing tools are valuable before the sales process, and after as well. I think that these tools lower the risk associated with introducing Crystal Solutions to the company, because they convey a lot of positivity about the product. I think the Solutions tool itself can have a tremendous amount of benefit to a company. The dashboard concept is a powerful control mechanism, one that allows the company to really ensure that managers are making the best decisions possible, because they have the best information at their disposal.

I can easily see how I would use something like Crystal Solutions in my company. We often make decisions quickly, but there are too many times when we only have partial information, or the managers are having a difficult time putting complex concepts together with information from disparate sources. Having a way to bring all of the key information together, and have it synthesized effectively, means that managers will be able to make better decisions, because they will have more knowledge about the company and the external environment. When we have time to gather data, we already do that. The big risk is when we do not have time to gather the data. I think Crystal Solutions can do that for us, so no decision is made in an information vacuum. Intuitively, I actually like the idea of using something like this for myself. I track things like earnings and expenses in order to try to make better decisions with personal issues. I am not sure how using something this extensive is going to help, but I certainly like the idea in principle.