How to sell a yield management platform to upper management

“I really like your product, I just need to convince my boss".

At yieldHUB we hear these words all the time. Pitching to management is not an easy task, especially when you're trying to convince them to invest in software they may be unfamiliar with. However, we've put together a guide to help you.

According to our experienced yield management specialist Carl Moore it's important to highlight Return On Investment (ROI).

Before working at yieldHUB, Carl managed engineering teams across top semiconductor companies such as Maxim Integrated, Memsic, and Allegro Microsystems.

“The best way to persuade your manager to invest in anything is to show the value it will bring to the company or team. And how it will make his or her job easier," Carl said.

He said it's also important to make sure your department's value is seen by management.

"In a company I worked for, we brought visibility and excitement to the product engineering role. We were able to save the company huge dollars, and the team became a very important department of the company, with very high visibility."

He said increasing your team's visibility can be achieved through regular reporting.

"At a glance, they see exactly where the project is at and if there are any problems your manager will see the data without having to organize a meeting or get a status update. This will save him or her a lot of time."

Here are all the reasons why semiconductor companies should invest in a yield management platform like yieldHUB:

Yield improvement

When you make your pitch, Carl said ensure you outline the facts. A modern yield management platform should be able to spot trends, respond to issues quickly and alert you when there is a problem. All of this combines to increase yield margins and reduce scrap. This makes the department look good, the quality of the products increase, the company meets its deadlines and its revenue targets. Investing in a yield management platform benefits everyone in the company.

Productivity

yieldHUB was designed by engineers for engineers. Our founder thought engineers should have all the information in front of them so they can make quick and informed decisions. yieldHUB was built to fast track the yield management process and boost productivity. Carl said a good quality yield management platform should generate reports and analysis for you so you can spend less time gathering data and more time solving problems. This makes them far more productive.

Communication

With standardized reports across the company, it makes communication much easier. If you, as an engineer identify an issue, you can show it to your boss using data to illustrate your point. Further, with all employees using the same reporting system it makes communicating easy. A yield management platform should be able to send reports regularly. If your manager has access to them, it means that everyone is up to speed in meetings. You won’t have to spend time explaining the latest developments. The yieldHUB system looks after a lot of this, making it a seamless process.

“These days, communication is everything. It is an essential ingredient in businesses, but few people have enough time to communicate often enough," Carl said.

"Over the years I’ve seen many issues in production that could have been avoided with adequate information and the right message at the right time. In addition to the reports and service, a yield management platform helps communication across the team, with your manager, and with the company overall.”

Standardized reports

Carl said without a system in place, your manager receives many different types of reports from different people every day. By using a yield management platform, the format of the reports are similar. This makes it easier for your manager to understand and make fast decisions based on it. He or she will be better able to spot trends with ease because they will be familiar with the layout.

“Engineering Managers are busy people. They don’t have time to look at lots of reports in different formats. By consolidating information and reporting, you make their job easier. This makes them more willing to invest in a system.”

Another benefit of having a yield management platform like yieldHUB is it creates automated reports which means employees don't need to spend time doing it themselves. This transpires to reduced hiring costs.

Customer support

Our yield management platform provides unrivaled customer service as well as software. The yieldHUB support team have years of experience to deal with problems as they arise with a fast response time. Carl said vendors are often quicker to respond to queries on a platform like yieldHUB versus internal employees who are managing a tool as part of their role. By investing in a yield management platform your boss has access to highly rated customer support that he or she would otherwise not have.

Bespoke service

Yield management software is developed in line with market needs. It provides what you need in ways you may not have thought of. You’re likely to get added services and bonuses that you wouldn’t think to ask internal providers. Your manager will have access to a range of reports and statistics that they wouldn't have even thought of. For example, in yieldHUB, we develop exciting tools and services that aren’t available anywhere else, such as, speed through cloud, an in-built communication tool and other smart features.

IT

According to Carl if you have a platform like yieldHUB it hosts the system and reduces the load on your servers and IT team. A cloud-hosted system can save the company time and money and can free up your IT colleagues’ time to work on more strategic areas.

Problem detection

If your yield management platform is cloud-based, it is on all the time. When it detects an issue, it will send a notification. This allows the team to detect issues early on. By solving problems sooner rather than later, you will prevent them from becoming bigger issues. This increases the chance of meeting company deadlines and improving profitability. Because the engineering team is freed up from procuring data, they have more time to solve the problems that arise.

Data and statistics

Yield management software should provide valuable data and statistics. This enables you to track trends over time and across each project. This data is very valuable.

UX and UI

Carl said commercial tools and systems are designed to be intuitive and user friendly. Therefore, a system is likely to be easier to use than an internal option. If it’s easier to use, more people will work with it. This again is better for your manager.

Representation

Yield management software provides the best representation of a problem. This makes the issue somewhat easier to handle, as they can better understand it. Many provide “high level to die level” analysis. This means you get a broad overview of the project then you can zoom in on the areas you want to, even to an individual die.

Speed

With YieldHUB you can generate a report at the touch of a button. For example, our module yieldHUB Characterize can analyze the data and present a comprehensive report with menu section and thumbnails of 200 hundred tests in just two minutes. The report can have many chart types or visualisations per test with filters also. Your manager can request a report before grabbing a coffee, and it will be ready by the time he or she is back at their desk.

Some thoughts to leave you with

Convincing your boss to invest in software is never an easy task but by focusing on your company's targets, goals, and by highlighting added value, you can make the decision easier for them. Yield management software benefits the company overall. By promoting the benefits you can increase the chance of your company saying yes.