WHITE PAPER BECOME A PARTNER

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER BECOME A PARTNER

2 CONTENTS Partner with us 3 What makes us unique 4 Our Partner Program 5 What you get as a Partner 6 CET Designer 8 Return on Invesment 10 Licensing Model 10 Royalty 11 Connect with other systems 11 Your own developers 12 Marketing and Marketplace 14 A network of learning and support 14 How to become a partner 15 PARTNER WITH CONFIGURA The companies we work with are more than customers to us - they re our partners. Together, we learn from each other to create a network of specialist and a driving force in the development of shared and individual solutions. We will therefore refer to our customers as our partners throughout this document. We work with manufacturers and brand owners in the office furniture, material handling, kitchen, doors, walls and industrial machinery industries. We develop and sell the tools included in the CET platform which is used to improve sales and order processes and is a precondition for parametric manufacturing. CET Designer supports the user in visualizing and specifying configurable products in 2D and 3D space directly with its clients. It generates quotations, renderings, movies, order-data and installation documents instantly. ROI is to be found in lower costs and higher income. HEADQUARTERS SWEDEN YEAR FOUNDED 1990 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 120+ SALES IN MILLION USD $13 CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE 50+ USERS WORLDWIDE 10,000+ Configura Sverige AB is a globally operating company with headquarters in Linköping, Sweden, and commercial operations in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Configura creates Parametric Graphical Configuration (PGC) software solutions, including CET Designer, for leading international companies and their dealerships. The software s origin stems from the office furniture industry but the technology is perfectly suited for other industries that deal in configurable, complex products requiring space planning Configura Sverige AB. All rights reserved. CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 3

3 WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE? We have invented and developed the principles of Parametric Graphical Configuration (PGC). A PGC application presents a small initial user interface where each polymorphic icon represents a large number of design possibilities. PGC is the foundation of all our solutions and creates unparalleled value for our customers. OUR PARTNER PROGRAM Implementing and maintaining a PGC solution requires skill, dedication, collaboration, and engaged management. Helping customers has been natural and an important part for us in learning about customers challenges and problems. If we learn early, we can help early. Today, we offer a technology that allows anyone to do this work. It s a business opportunity for both manufacturers and software and consultancy service providers around the world. We are actively looking for two kind of partners: PGC has two equally important perspectives. The first is a business-oriented perspective that relates to the way a company can streamline and optimize its sales, ordering and manufacturing processes. The second is a technologybased perspective for how to effectively implement and maintain computer programs within this problem domain. Our responsibility to our customers is to continue to lead the development in this field. We will do so in close collaboration with our customers and partners. An entire platform Based on our development framework of PGC, we are excited to offer our partners not just a program but an entire platform - containing all the tools needed to create content to be used in our software CET Designer. With full control over the content, and the ability to market through our e-commerce solution called Marketplace, we are unique in our field to offer a complete package through every step of the process. Parametric Manufacturing Parametric Manufacturing is a concept based on PGC that will enable manufacturers to abandon the use of static and inflexible part numbers to describe product structures. Instead, Parametric Manufacturing introduces a dynamic structure that can handle unlimited product variations without giving rise to complex and costly processes. PGC is a fundamental precondition for successful Parametric Manufacturing. PGC software should: be quick and effortless to use automate common tasks hide the technical aspect of the products teach available choices and possibilities eliminate errors streamline the sales process APPLICATION PARTNERS Application Partners are typically manufacturers or brand owners that produce and sell products. For manufacturers, the direct benefit is a stream-lined and efficient sales and order process that reduces costs and increases sales. Revenue come from license fees paid by users and improved processes. An Application Partner could also be software developers that develop utility Extensions providing additional functionality to CET Designer users examples are functionality to create video, 3D PDFs, etc. IMPLEMENTATION PARTNERS Implementation partners are typically software developers that have skilled employees, a local network and know-how about verticals on the local market. The opportunity for the partner is to help their customers implement PGC solutions based on the CET platform. The partner will receive revenue from consultancy and potentially from license revenue depending on how they want to work with the customer. Implementing and maintaining content for a customer is potentially a long-term commitment. Configura still helps customers after 25 years of service. This means business stability and excellent growth potential. 4 BECOME A PARTNER CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 5

4 WHAT YOU GET AS A PARTNER When signing on as a partner with us, you get access to our entire Configura Extension Technology (CET) platform. The CET platform includes all software, tools, functions, material, manuals, training, events, agreements and business terms needed for Configura, partners and users to leverage from PGC in a symmetric and understandable way. The CET platform is an ecosystem of tools and possibilities it s a result of 25 years of evolution. Create - We offer two main tools to implement new products or functionality. Generally speaking, CET Developer is used for more advanced products that need programming while the Catalogue Creator is database driven and used for simpler products. However, these tools are ultimately used together. Control - MyConfigura is our web portal that connects all of Configura s cloud-based services. Licensing, content, pricing and information is managed and presented in one convenient place. Market - Marketplace is the CET platform s e-commerce solution. This is where manufacturers and users come together to buy, sell and market CET Designer and related Extensions and Catalogues. Partners can earn royalty by selling their Extensions. Use - CET Designer is an all-inone solution where the technical complexity is hidden to the end-user. Only one program is needed through the entire sales, design and order process. 6 BECOME A PARTNER CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 7

5 CET DESIGNER CET Designer is intelligent, highly visual and intuitive space-planning software that simplifies specifying and selling of products in a variety of industries. It s a complete solution that quickly and accurately handles every step of the sales and order process. Drag and drop components into 2D and 3D virtual environments; behind the scenes, the software tracks components, calculates pricing and prevents user errors. DESIGN SPECIFY Design in 2D and 3D Paper view management Multi level Specification and calculation Multi drawing Rules and configuration View modes Part tagging Work modes Automatic installation drawing generation PRESENT CONNECT Presentation preparation and publishing Integration with Revit, AutoCAD & SketchUp Rendering and movie making CRM and ERP integration Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities Alternative management 3D PDFs Language and region selection Instant and controlled update of individual end-user instances SUPPORT 8 TRAINING Feature and issue reporting In-person training Message center integrated with MyConfigura Virtual training 24 hour support five days a week Monthly, free webinars Multi market, multi company and multi product support Weekly tips BECOME A PARTNER CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 9

6 ADDITIONAL BENEFITS RETURN ON INVESTMENT ROYALTY The Return on Investment is substantial for partners. By implementing CET Designer, companies will transform to something new - new processes and new responsibilities for people working within the organization. On average, the cost to develop and maintain a CET Designer solution is % of the yearly sales and the gain is 4-6% of the yearly sales. Large companies with many products that involve system configuration and a high volume of quotations tend to gain most. Also, companies that embrace PGC and implement CET Designer fully in their organization gain even more. An implementation is, in most cases, done step by step with the first delivery after 6 months to 1 year. To implement all products and business intelligence will normally extend to more than a year depending on complexity, number of products, and size of the company. ROI will be seen after 1-2 years for most companies. Even if only a smaller number of product are implemented, the impact will be high. We recommend that companies start with implementing popular products and products with higher complexity. We at Configura are responsible for invoicing and payments for all Extensions worldwide, including partners Extensions. When a user pays the subscription fee for an Extension, 85% is paid in royalty to the owner of the Extension. CONNECT WITH OTHER SYSTEMS The CET platform allows you to connect CET Designer to any service that has a webservice. This means that you can connect to your ERP system and other systems to create a seamless workflow in the sales and design process. Some major benefits with connecting your ERP system to CET Designer are: Two way communication CET Designer can retrieve data from your ERP systems such as part numbers, real time pricing, etc. CET Designer can also send data, such as a finalized order into the ERP system. Perform real time price calculations in CET Designer CET Designer can perform price calculations in real time based on what the user designs. 85% ROYALTY LICENSING MODEL All software, including customer and partner Extensions, are available on our online Marketplace. Each partner decides whether their Extensions should be free or available for a subscription fee. The subscription fee is per year and per named user. The user is allowed to use/access the licensed software from several devices but only from one device at the time. Volume is available. 1 paid license 0% 2 paid license 10% 3 paid license 15% 4 paid license 20% 5 paid license 25% 10 paid license 30% Generate Bill of Material in CET Designer The user can generate a Bill of Material in the program without having to use other software. Generate code for CNC machines Information can be sent straight to production with all information for a robot or machine to know how to cut or drill the product. OTHER SYSTEMS Examples of systems we ve connected to in the past are: Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, IFS Applications, SAP, Infor M3, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Oracle ERP, Libello, Dun&Bradstreet, Dynamics AX, Monitor, etc. 1. This model is for CET Designer, CET Developer and the Catalogue Creator. An Extensions can have a different model and is set by the Extension owner. 10 BECOME A PARTNER CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 11

7 YOUR OWN DEVELOPERS We re happy to supply consultancy services from start to finish for a project. We strongly recommend our partners to get our advice and support in the early phases of a project, however, partners can choose to have their own developers on the CET platform. Having your own developers have several benefits: Contained product knowledge Have experienced staff that have worked with your products for years. Alternatively, train new developers specifically about your products. Increased accuracy and quick answers Having programmers in-house allows for quick answers to questions, often making development more efficient. Lower cost for sustained development Training costs for a new developer get offset fairly quickly. After going through training, they are able to do anything a Configura developer would be able to do. Many of our partners choose to have their own developers to lower costs, increase product knowledge and have better control over development. On demand development In-house developers mean full control over development deadlines, features, etc. Tighter integration with internal systems Developers that are already working with the backend systems and have direct access to this knowledge makes developing a tight integration between systems more straightforward. Speaking from experience, it s easier to facilitate these kinds of tasks with an on-site team. PARTNER DEVELOPERS North America South America Europe Africa Asia Australia Developers worldwide We currently have over 100 developers employed by our partners around the world. 12 BECOME A PARTNER CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 13

8 BECOME A PARTNER MARKETPLACE AND MARKETING To become a partner, go to configura.com/marketplace to buy our development environment CET Developer. You will be presented with the Partner Agreement when you install the development environment. The strategy around the CET platform is built upon the principles of the many-to-many business model. The primary mission with our CET operations is to provide products and support in order to maintain a constantly growing Marketplace for buyers and suppliers of Extensions and Catalogues. Contact one of our sales representatives for more details. Having an Extensions means your name is visible to thousands of CET Designer users on our Marketplace. Partner can promote their Extenstions and Catalogues and users can download for instant access. EUROPE Johan Gustafsson Key Account Manager We also continually work with our partners for cross marketing purposes, including press releases and social media phone johan.gustafsson@configura.com A NETWORK OF LEARNING AND SUPPORT NORTH AMERICA Becoming a partner means access to a vast network of other partners and CET Designer users. Biannual Partner Meetings are held in the United States as well as an annual User Conference that is attended by around 300 users each year. We also organize an annual Developer Conference for all our partners developers. Brooke Snow Business Development Manager phone brooke.snow@configura.com Support and Training is available for both developers and endusers, to partners. According to CET Designer users, we have some of the best support there is offering 24 hours support five days a week through chat, phone and . An extensive library of online tutorials and help articles are available for CET Designer. ASIA WanLin Chee Business Development Manager Different training options are available, both as in-person training and virtual training together with monthly webinars covering different areas of CET Designer. 24 HOURS SUPPORT 14 BECOME A PARTNER VIRTUAL + IN-PERSON TRAINING phone wanlin.chee@configura.com MONTHLY WEBINARS CONFIGURA.COM/PARTNER 15

9 configura.com Configura Sverige AB Storgatan 13, Box 306 SE Linköping, Sweden Tel Fax Kyrkogatan 4 SE Göteborg, Sweden Tel info@configura.com Configura Inc. 100 Grandville Ave SW Ste 501 Grand Rapids, MI Tel Fax usinfo@configura.com Configura Pacific Sdn Bhd Suite 17-13, Floor 17, GTower 199 Jalan Tun Razak Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel info@configura.com