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One of the major drivers behind a product configuration system, or CPQ (configure, price, quote) system, is the need to handle complexity. The market demands customized products, but it is a real challenge to offer individualized products while keeping cost and lead times down.

The competition in the market demands mass customization, and we need to find technical solutions to address this challenge. Product configuration is therefore a promising and appropriate starting point for any digitalization initiative within your organization.

Due to the inherent complexity involved in selecting, combining, and engineering products, product configuration is of special relevance among the business support systems. Product configuration is also a process which stretches across the most fundamental disciplines of a company - from product design through sales, via engineering to manufacturing and service.

It turns out that product configuration is one of the oldest and most successful applications of artificial intelligence. In this area it is all about symbolic AI, in particular the use of logic programming. Constraint-based approaches are very suitable for solving the kind of complex problems related to product configuration and pricing.

When we hear of AI today it is much about the connectionist approach where data and probabilities are utilized. Deep learning and random forest are two preferred technologies we use for solving and analysing problems based on probabilistic inference. These technologies can be very powerful for using data to solve problems in business applications.

Waterfall, Iterative, or Agile? Of course, we will definiteley only use the agile approach to software development today. But please let us not completely throw away the ideas of the "old" methodologies. For example, systematic and thorough requirements engineering is as relevant today as ever. When digitalization projects fail, what we often observe is a lack of understanding for the requirements, the domain, or even for the goals!

Agile is an extremely powerful way of ensuring rapid progress while keeping the end user / customer in focus all the time. Working in distributed teams makes the digital support for the project execution essential. You need a deep understanding and extensive experience of agile and SCRUM to bring your software project to a successful end - on time and in budget!

Web development is a fast moving environment and it is easy to loose track. In order not to make wrong decisions for the future it is necessary to stay on top and keep the overview. There are many technologies and tools but what is the right for your task at hand?

A general rule is not to overdo things and pick the simplest tool for the task. You need a homepage? Utilize the main free and fast resources around like W3schools. Need a simple web shop? Have a look at WordPress. If you need a more complex application there are many alternatives. Maybe first consider what you already are familiar with. Our choice when no other constraints: Django + Vue.js

Martin Fowler was quoted with saying "You should use iterative development only on projects that you want to succeed", and this still holds true. Unfortunately I see too often a lack of attention to the elaboration part of the iterative process of software development. What does that mean? Jumping to solutions too quickly or missing your goals because the end-user view was not sufficiently understood.

Requirements analysis is needed also in an agile world. There is excellent tooling for integrated analysis and development. For example I really like how Confluence and Jira play together to make our life easier. For a successful requirements analysis, let our structured method help you ask the right questions, consider the right aspects, and build a solid base for your software project.

The challenge of inventory management is that information is distributed on many systems, is difficult to access, and potentially wrong or missing. If there is no end-to-end view of your inventory this leads to an inefficient use of existing resources. Inventory management projects fail when integration costs rise unexpectedly and implementation timeframes are exceeded.

On the contrary, a successful and flexible inventory management means efficient usage of existing resources for best value of your assets. When there is up-to-date information, there is also less re-work, and comprehensive planning is possible.