1. Atech’s Capabilities with Business and Marketing
Consulting
Service Offerings
The Fundamental “Flaws” in Today’s Software & Web Applications
The Atech Solution & Approach
Presentation by: Ascendant Technology July 13, 2009

2. Service Offerings
1
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3. 5 Core Areas of Services in
Business & Marketing Consulting
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4. Fundamental “Flaws” to the
Requirements, Design and Marketing
of Software
2
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5. #1 IT and Business Challenges in the 20th and 21st Century’s
Innovation & Growth Operational Efficiency
Technology and software is supposed to help meet
these challenges
but… Pg 5
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6. The processes behind software design and development has
fundamental issues… we need to incorporate lessons learned
from other industries
“In the last year, 70% of projects failed to meet deadlines, & 50% of
projects failed to meet the needs of the business; 80% of the issues
stem from poor requirements.” Standish Group Chaos Report
top three causes of project failure were…
•lack of user input
•incomplete requirements
•changing requirements
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7. Most software is designed without the users needs
Issue # helping to drive the solution
1
Features Mental Model
Chassis
Needs to cut a 1 acre yard in less
4 Wheels than an hour
Steering Wheel Needs a 42” cutting deck
Gasoline Powered
Cut steep hills
Comfortable Seating
Simple controls to disengage the
cutting blades
=
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8. Most software solutions are developed with a “broken”
Issue # or unclear measurement plan and strategy, the impact
can be dramatic…
2
Recipe for disaster…
 Unclear value alignment with features and  Scope creep and late stage rework
functions  Poor adoption once in production
 Missing or poorly defined business, marketing  Blown business plans and ROI
and user experience measurement plans  Strained IT/Business relationships
 Miss-aligned technical, marketing/product
release and feature Roadmaps
OR
How would you prefer to
gauge and monitor your
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success?

9. End-Users and Stakeholders are uncertain of what
Issue #
they want until they see and interact with it
3
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10. Requirements can be complex and the elicitation and
Issue #
management of them is critical to the success of the
solution
4
How the How it was
customer documented
explained the
needs
How it was
What was
delivered to
needed
“production”
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11. Weak links typically occur between the “blue sky”
Issue # solution, their technical implementation and associated
roadmaps
5
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12. The Atech Solution & Approach
3
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13. Atech’s solution…
Ascendant:
Process and Team Integration
Across Disciplines
Cr
ea
tiv
M e&
ark
s Value e ti
Busines ng
irements
& Requ
eeds
User N
al
Technic
n
entatio
Implem
Others:
Compartmentalized & Siloed
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14. Why our solutions work
We…
have found that no single “silver bullet” process is applicable, rather it is the
collection of many
have taken the best of breed industry and non-industry
approaches and learned how to build a better “mouse trap”
Customer
know our strengths from our weaknesses Experience
have staffed with the best of breed + Business
consultants Value
Customer Research
Methods
Atech
User Centered Design
Approach
Software
Design Business Value
Customer Centric
Assessment &
Marketing & Measurement
Measurement
Portfolio
Manageme Business Process
IBM & nt & Six Modeling &
Requirements Transformation
Rational Technical Sigma
Definition &
Unified Expertise
Management
Process
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15. “Fail” fast and safe… “ There are many perverse incentives to keep
initiatives going past the point of where they
should have failed. If there is to be a failure, you
want to fail as fast as possible.”
Guido F Sacchi, CIO of Compucredit on
Requirements Disciplined Innovation
Management
User
Experience
Design
Business Value
Task & Scenario Alignment and
Usability Testing Measurement
Analysis
At Atech we visualize and simulate to drive ROU (Reduction Of Uncertainty).
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16. The “all-in” process…
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17. /CLARIFY
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18. We understand the balance of innovation, execution and
cycle time
We believe in becoming and strive to be your trusted advisor by understanding your problem space
and delivering on what is needed
We use a variety of techniques to help you determine the best use of your investment including
feasibility vs importance score-carding, portfolio management and business value alignment
methodologies to ensure effective cycle times
Our engagements can be delivered in four ways…
Targeted & Incremental Improvements*
End to End Process Delivery (Redesigns,
Significant Overhauls or Ground-up)*
Healthchecks
Ala-cart Services
*We highly recommend that a 3-5 day discovery engagement is used to ensure appropriate
service offering alignment
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19. Typical Engagement Profiles
#1
#2
#3
#4
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