Aurigo had a very powerful software meant for managing large capital projects yet they were not able to make a significant dent in the market, primarily in the US.
So we asked them why anyone would buy your software product. The answer was unsurprisingly an inside-out list of great tech features. They felt they had a better product than some of the better known competitors but they just couldn’t get across the product superiority convincingly.
Our next question was who is your customer? And that’s when we realized that they were targeting generalized industry verticals instead of specific people who would eventually use the software. They were missing the connection with the users who would benefit.
So we talked to infrastructure building companies and more importantly project heads of multi-million dollar projects. To find out what are the key issues they face.
Their main challenge is in controlling huge project. Which means effectively managing a host of complex, interrelated variables ranging from design to material and labour. Yet their responsibility is to ensure project completion on time and on cost.
We figured they were not an IT savvy lot so all the tech talk was cutting no ice. What they needed was a solution that would give them real-time project status and planning control. This is however what every CPMS vendor promised. But the crux of the problem was getting such CPMS adopted quickly and easily across the width and depth of multiple stakeholders in a project.
So looking outside-in, the real issue project heads faced had to do with people. The difficulty of changing people’s work habits, learning new skills and building new competencies.
This meant designing the software such that it fit into the work habits and culture of construction teams without disrupting their existing work practices. So as to make user adoption easy and quick. In short, we needed technology that makes sense by making life easier for everyone in the work force.
Strategically, the benefits of Aurigo CPMS, branded as Masterworks had to address human issues in addition to delivering on all tech needs. This implied across the brand value chain, Masterworks had to deliver on ‘easy to use’ as the core idea. Everything the brand does – product design, development, configuration, function, performance, implementation, adoption, user training, support service etc. – had to be pivoted on the value of ‘Ease of Use’.
The re-engineered Masterworks was launched in 2011. Today it’s among the leading CPMS solution in the market.
