QAD Champions of Manufacturing 2025 | Zack Sosebee, QAD Redzone

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Zack Sosebee

SVP Operations

QAD Redzone

play_circle_outline Revolutionizing ERP: Embracing 90-Day Implementations and Agile Manufacturing Solutions for Modern Business Success

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Zack Sosebee, QAD Redzone

Zack Sosebee

SVP Operations QAD Redzone

At the QAD Champions of Manufacturing event in Dallas, Texas, theCUBE Research’s Scott Hebner and Paul Gillin sit down with Zack Sosebee, senior vice president of operations at QAD Redzone, for an inside look at how QAD is redefining ERP deployment through Champion Pace. Sosebee outlines how this approach replaces years-long ERP rollouts with a focused 90-day path to measurable results – emphasizing inventory optimization, customer value and eliminating the fatigue that comes from feature-heavy implementations. By zeroing in on the “vital few” outcomes and mi... Read more

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What is the new approach to ERP implementation that the CEO discussed, and how does it aim to achieve completion in 90 days? add

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Zack Sosebee, QAD Redzone

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Paul Gillin

>> Welcome back to the QAD Redzone Champions of Manufacturing Conference here in Dallas, Texas. Paul Gillin with theCUBE and my co-host, Scott Hebner. And we're talking all about manufacturing. And today, we've been talking about ERP and automating the entire manufacturing process from soup to nuts. Zach Sosebee is the Senior Vice President of Operations for QAD Redzone. Zach, thanks for joining us.

Zack Sosebee

>> Pleasure to be here. Thank you guys for having us.

Paul Gillin

>> So about ERP, the CEO this morning talked about a new approach to ERP, a 90-day implementation. ERP implementation times have historically been measured in years. How are you guys going to compress that in 90 days?

Zack Sosebee

>> It's a great question. It's a big passion of mine. I've been a fan of manufacturing for many years, started the industry there and I love the operators. I love the front line and I love the results and I love the speed to value. As I looked at what engages operators for me, and this is how Redzone was built by the way, so we helped found Redzone. The concept is how do you take the software and enable the human to take advantage of winning the day to do things differently, to run the factory like it's their own business? That's a big thing for me. And as I think about how Redzone compares to ERP, ERP is just out on a bigger scale with employees that are more senior. So how do we give these guys the tools, the energy and the focus to do their jobs differently? So when we deploy this, the first thing we're going to do is focus on the customer experience and speed to value. So the customer experience is basically measurable results. So it's not about getting software turned on, it's not about getting features to work, it's not about making workflows. It's about how do we optimize our inventory. That's what this is really about. And so how quickly can we get there? So instead of the 24-month thing, we want to look at the vital few things for the business that really matter. So step one is actually not to map out a big long deployment. Step one is to map out all the things we're not going to do. And by doing that, we focus on things that matter the most that actually give value to the customers and value to the customer's customers. That's what really matters. So they can be agile, they can be flexible. We're going to take customizations and get rid of them. We're going to take integrations and slim them down. We want the config and the adaptive part of the software to be flexible enough that they can make it fit any process. They can make it work as they change. As the trajectory of their business changes, we want them to have the flexibility and software and not do upgrades all the time. So we're going to look at that vital few. We're going to work with a team of sponsors there that can make those hard decisions and say, "Yes, it's okay to make sure we get live in 90 days. In 120 days, we're a little more complicated. We're going to get live and then we're going to deal with the troubleshooting so we can all pat ourselves on the back and get back." The worst thing we can do from my perspective is to focus so hard on lots of features and capabilities and drag out that the team gets distracted. If that team gets from running their business, issues like downtime and inventory problems, they get missed due to leadership having their eye off the ball focused on these features. First of all, it hurts the business. The costs start piling up. But second of all, it means you can't get an ROI, because everybody's fatigued. By the time you actually get the system live, they're just exhausting.

Scott Hebner

>> So in the keynote, Sanjay I thought did a great job and the strategic vision, the pieces of the puzzle that you guys are bringing to your customers. We just had Ron Davis talk about Champion AI. Can you introduce to the audience what Champion Pace is?

Zack Sosebee

>> Absolutely. So Champion Pace is our philosophy on a rapid deployment that's followed by coaching for speed to value. I'll use this analogy. If you look at Champion Pace, you'll see the branding of a Formula One car, no mistake. First of all, it's international, everybody understands it. At Redzone, we did the football thing. If I'm honest, it doesn't translate to Europe as well as when we first built the software. So we first started thinking Formula One is a pretty international product, but the more I got into it, a Formula One car represents speed and it represents precision, and that's what you need in the new world. You can't just have speed, you can't just have precision, you got to have both. So I think it's a great example. So Champion Pace is about getting there with both. And so as I look at the implementation process, we have a rapid implementation and that's not to the end of it, it's followed by coaching. And so with those two together, coaching people in doing their jobs differently with these new tools and leveraging Champion AI, that leads to a more sustainable result for the customer, not just a system getting live. I equate it to a Ferrari. So the average driver, you send them to a track, you give them a shiny, new Ferrari. Beautiful piece of equipment, very expensive, very timely to build. Is their track time any better than a Mustang Cobra? Probably not. Because what actually makes them better drivers and gets a better result on the track is the coaching. So how do they take the turn? What feedback do they get? Hot laps, practicing the driver, learning the apex, reps, reps, reps. That coaching is what makes all the difference in how you actually get results. So I think about it if a blend of getting there quickly and doing the things that matter the most, followed by coaching in a new way of working new behaviors, using data to make decisions, that's Champion Pace, that's sustainability.

Scott Hebner

>> Is it infusing AI into that process?

Zack Sosebee

>> A hundred percent. AI helps on a number of fronts. First of all, it helps on the faster implementation. So you take weeks of data collection down to days with AI, because the human element just ... You remove all that redundant work. Then once you get live, the Champion Pace or the Champion AI inventory agent is actively looking at the inventory, looking at optimizations and prompting in real time users to make decisions that will decrease the carrying costs and increase their inventory terms.

Paul Gillin

>> You said you're doing away with customizations and migrations. What are you replacing that with?

Zack Sosebee

>> So the software is built on a different platform that's web friendly and full of configurations. It's a highly flexible platform. Now, it doesn't mean we're getting rid of them totally. We want to minimize that. So if you've got 1,000 customizations, maybe we can get down to like 8 or 10 and maybe we can do those after the implementation. It's not a full-fledged get rid of customizations, but it's fine, smarter, faster ways. Not to mention software that was built years and years ago. There's just features in the software that do this for you now. There are so many new features that are industry specific. All the customizations, over half of them are taken care of just with the feature codes. And separate from that, you've got the flexibility from having a configurable interface rather than software coding customizations.

Scott Hebner

>> So if you were sitting here two years from now, we were talking again, what will Champion Pace be able to do that it's not doing today?

Zack Sosebee

>> Well, one of things I tell the customer, in two years, we're going to be here with customers that actually have the results. Customers that have decreased their inventory costs. They have increased their margin to decrease their costs. So they go from a 15% margin to a 17% margin. That's what I want to see and I want to be giving awards to companies that chose to go the fast way, that chose not to get distracted and therefore their people won. They celebrate, they recognize, they paid their employees more money for the work they're doing and the results they're driving. That's what we want to be celebrating in two years. And I think how will Champion Pace evolve? Well, it's going to carry right along with Champion AI. So as our AI program gets stronger and deeper, I think the results from Champion Pace faster, simpler implementations and more focus on results faster and faster. That's where we're headed with it.

Scott Hebner

>> Yeah, your message about speed is an advantage, waiting is defeat. I like it. Very hard hitting.

Zack Sosebee

>> Yes. Speed is no longer a strategy, it's just survival.

Paul Gillin

>> Zach, I know you're rushing to get to another appointment. I want to thank you for spending a few minutes with us here and telling us about the evolution of ERP.

Zack Sosebee

>> It's my pleasure. We're excited for the new world. Thank you guys.

Paul Gillin

>> You bet. We'll be back. This is theCUBE, Paul Gillin and Scott Hebner in Dallas.