Learn from Orbis
Why technology fails
The top mistakes that business managers make that cause technology projects to fail...
Everyone fears failure. Our human condition has planted the notion that failure means we have been
stupid, lazy, and in the business place, failure often makes us fear losing our
paycheck.
The greatest among us know that failure is the product of education: with each
"failure" we learn valuable information about the problem we are trying to solve.
Often, by learning what does not work, we can come close to knowing
what does work.
Technology projects, initiatives, and changes fail because business management is afraid
of making the wrong choice. The secret is simple: you will always be wrong with technology.
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WRONG.
In technology, what is good practice today is nearly obsolete tomorrow. Resist the temptation
to try and "get it right" when it comes to technology. Forget the subjective notion of "right" -
and simply work on solving the problem. There are hundreds of ways to solve the same problem
with technology - there is no right answer and wrong answer, only the answer that solves your
problem.
Realize that most technology project "fail" because they don't actually solve the problem. What
technology problems require is a good solution to the problem - and that requires understanding
the problem. Often, technology projects are designed to fix symptoms.
For example, you can have
the worlds most expensive system to scan and save documents. But what if the problem isn't saving the
documents - what if, what you're trying to do is eliminate paper? Scanning solutions assume
paper - something to scan. The real problem is the fact that paper exists in the first place:
design paper forms out of your workflow and you don't need that expensive scanning system.
Think about the business problem or process you have: don't think about technology. Ask questions
of "why do we do things this way?" "Is there a better way to do this process?" Once you ask
those questions, it is much easier to use technology to solve those problems. Often, technology
complicates our lives because we use technology to solve symptoms - not problems.
Technology smarts
Learn why smart managers never make decisions about technology...
Smart business managers know their business well: they understand their industry, their product,
trends, customers, vendors, and their "trade." That's evidenced by the fact that they are in
business and successful - there would be no business nor success if they did not know their "stuff"
when it came to their business.
Savvy business people have to spend a lot of time learning their industry and practicing their
trade. This means that other tasks: accounting, legal, human resources, operations, etc. have to
be intrusted to other people or departments.
Smart managers don't know anything about computers. While industries, manufacturing, logistics,
production, and operations are stable industries - computers and technology are instable. Technology
changes far too fast for the successful, smart business manager to stay on top of the trends.
To save time, money, and effort, information technology is outsourced by smart managers. Just like
legal, accounting, and HR, there are too many intricasies and too many changes in the technology
field to make technology an in-house affair.
The cost of bidding
The story of the purchasing department that wasted the technology budget...
Once, there was a company that needed to use technology to make more money, sell faster, deliver
product more accurately and more timely, and close the billing cycle to generate more cash flow.
However, this company was adamant about "controlling" the technology purchasing process. The company
used the same methods to buy technology as they used to buy product, equipment, hire people, and try
to ensure that they didn't spend too much money.
As such, quotes from various companies were obtained. Since the business managers really don't understand
technology, they don't really know what they're asking for. Savvy sales people from technology companies
know when you don't understand, and they'll sell you lots of things to pad their commissions.
That company that thought they could control the process of purchasing technology like everything else
forgot one thing: they don't understand technology. They DO understand their industry, their suppliers,
their vendors, and their customers. It is easy to assume that every business process can be solved with
the same tools, but that's what leads to failure. Solving technology problems requires a technical
savvy that business managers and staff do not have.
So while that company went through the confusing and time-wasting process of filtering bids and having meetings,
they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars is lost people time, plus they delayed the benefit of that
new technology. By waiting to get the lowest price, they also waited to get any benefit, likely negating
any ROI that project would provide.
The bottom line is that if you don't live and breath technology, don't make technology decisions. Paying a
consulting firm for their time will keep you from wasting your valueable time and money.