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September 14, 1998 Simplified Configuration Concentra offers fixed-time, fixed-price implementation By Tom Stein 
roduct-configuration software vendor Concentra Corp. this week will roll out its next-generation system, SellingPoint 4.0. To ensure that companies deploy the application successfully, Concentra is offering a fixed-price, fixed-time implementation deal: The software will be up and running in 14 weeks for $300,000, all expenses paid.Configuration software lets salespeople assemble complex products while with the customer. For example, a PC representative can build a computer, then get exact pricing. But such software sometimes introduces more problems than it solves. Users are required to program many of their own business rules into the configuration software and connect the product to a host of external systems-for every dollar spent on the software, as many as five more are needed for a successful implementation. Concentra says it will put an end to such messy deployments. Its new program, SellingPoint Express, combines a rapid implementation methodology with deployment tools, training, and consulting expertise. "This drops out 100 days from the implementation process," says Dave Lemont, chief operating officer of Concentra. "The 14-week time frame was one of the reasons we decided to go with the Concentra product," says Wally Schaffner, a senior VP at Pride Healthcare Inc., a maker of products such as power wheelchairs and scooters. "I'm not willing to wait for a long implementation. We are confident we can get this done on time." The Exeter, Pa., company is now in the first week of its implementation.
With SellingPoint 4.0, Concentra will also be introducing out-of-the- box integration with Oracle's enterprise resource planning system, letting salespeople check manufacturing applications to see what in- ventory is in stock and what's on order.
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