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Building the I.S. future foundations from past learning.

Why is it many senior leaders and executives perceive their I.S. strategy, if they have one, has not and is still not delivering the expected business outcomes but still incurring considerable costs? Why are these leaders also sceptical of the role technology will play in the organisations future growth and success.

I.S. Strategic Failure

Not a very positive title but certainly not a new subject or set of issues. Many of the problems and challenges troubling senior executives and sometimes I.S. leaders have been evident for some while. The aim of this article is to bring some of these issues together and look at some potential alternative ways forward.

We tend not to look at the relatively short history of I.S. Other sectors have prospered with reflection. All new innovations s for example the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, washing machines all had their issues in their early usage. In many cases they scared both people and domestic animals.  All have overcome these setbacks and are now used successfully and in the most part happily. We need to take action to facilitate this transition for I.S.

Frustration and confusion reign at the highest levels about at least if not all of the following;

1 UNREALISTIC  PROMISES

These are many and started very early in the life of I.S. /I.T. The mainframe not delivering for many years the power that was promised. Early word processing that did not grasp how secretarial functions performed editing and printing.  Software packages where continuous update and change with ongoing frequent releases of unwanted functionality quickly obsolete hardware and other software. Selling client server architectures where they would never work effectively in a large scale geographically distributed environment for example large multinationals.

2 FAILED BUSINESS OUTCOMES

There are many examples some of which have made headline news in the recent years.  These are however not restricted to large scale government projects although these tend to gain publicity where commercial organisations are not so open about their failures. Inability to meet the expected outcomes is not restricted to these catastrophic failures but also include many projects and programs where the expected benefits of revenue cost or time are not achieved. Poorly defined, managed, tested or implemented systems litter many recent business histories.  All badly defined or scoped change programs, not only I.S. ones, are particularly prone to poor outcomes for example outsourcing, shared services, mergers and acquisitions or common systems implementations.

3 POOR PERCEPTION OF I.S. 

It appears that the softer skills are in many cases a challenge for more technically oriented people and may well reflect a difference in emphasis and content of development and training. Many of the harder skills are also not considered in many cases to be readily apparent in many I.S. personnel. Internal marketing and relationship building is important for success in business and when combined with poor expectation management can be disastrous for I.S. teams. An inability to articulate realistic systems and technology benefits and drawbacks has provided fuel to flame the perceptions and failed outcomes.

4 UNDERSTANDING TECHNOLOGY

In many cases there is a lack of a basic grasp of technology within a business. Senior decision makers often do not necessarily understand the potential or the limitations of technology and systems or the I.S. organisations supporting them. Failed digital marketing plans for example are in many cases an issue caused by an initial lack of understanding within multiple functions in a business. These failures often include security and resilience issues which are in many cases joint responsibilities and should be exercised that way. Too often responsibility for I.S. is fragmented or uncoordinated causing business initiatives and strategies to fail. Whilst a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, shared knowledge among a team can bring huge success.

5 MISSING COMMITTMENTS

Having an early commitment on dates and costs is important when developing business cases and proposing investment. Few business cases are kept up to date or contain enough sensitivity from the outset. Failure to meet program and projects dates, costs and other benefits is a common and prevalent failure. Not escalating in a timely manner causes many unexpected surprises within organisations and no positive chance for corrective action. Poor supplier management and inability to understand and manage scope can cause serious issues with programs such as shared services and outsourcing. There is a low level of confidence in most businesses about the achievement of the benefits or timescales both of I.S. and associated change programs. This has led to a level of mistrust that seriously impacts on organisations desire to invest and keep current with technology and systems. There are as a consequence many organisations that are dependent on ageing systems with all of the attendant impact on resilience, security and operating support capability and costs.

6 POOR INTEGRATION WITHIN THE BUSINESS

I.S. in many cases is not viewed as being core to the business rather an expensive overhead. This is having a major detrimental impact on the development of many organisations. Where I.S. is seen as central to business growth, initiatives often occur or are initiated with little or no involvement of the I.S. organisation. This is both costly, wasteful and can cause longer term damage to the security and resilience of the company’s business with severe exposure for both customers and suppliers. The lack of responsiveness of I.S. and its supplier base form a large part of this problem. I.S. is also for example not seen as part of Lean Enterprise other than its role in providing system changes to support value stream improvements.

7 FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND CURRENT USEAGE

Organisations internal systems are increasingly becoming visible to both customers and suppliers. Failure to understand how data is managed securely and professionally is a major source of concern. The growth of the online business both as a core part of an organisation strategy in many cases has left the back office technology and systems behind. This is a time bomb and will inevitably go off. The investment cost of addressing this in many companies is huge but this issue must be tackled.

A tale of woe or a tremendous opportunity? It is certainly challenging. There needs to be some basic and fundamental actions taken to improve our chances of success. There are some simple actions that can be taken in the short term. Longer term a more grounded approach to hype around technology, a shift in training and development and a more realistic approach to I.S. vision and strategy is needed.

Some suggestions for action,

1 Responsible Marketing of I.S/I.T. products and services that match customer needs and requirements. This will require a major change in media hype around technology allied to better product requirement definition from organisations and businesses. We must also continue the movement of I.T. to an engineering science from an art form.

2 Dramatically improve the development, update and tracking of investment business cases for technology and systems allowing no investment exceptions. This includes a more scientific approach to the definition of the anticipated business outcomes.

3 Formal education and training for I.T. personnel should be expanded to include the currently missing hard and softer skills for example Finance and Leadership.

4 A major improvement in the “team” approach to technology and systems within organisations. An understanding of technology and systems from a capability and business relevance should be a core skill for all senior business leaders.

5 How portfolio and program management operate in I.S. must be elevated to the level found for example with new product development in sensitive industries.

6 The strategic relevance of I.S. can only be improved if it closely fits and supports the organisations vision and strategy. This must be combined with an organisation model that enables closer team based working within a business.

7 Standing still on current usage and doing nothing is not an option. This is another candidate for sound investment case development. Real life cycle costs of ownership of technology and systems should be understood with maintenance and upgrade costs fully included to prevent re occurrence of the current challenges.

These are brief responses to the many issues raised and do not cover all of the needed answers. Further significant effort is needed to ensure that I.S. does become recognised as a core business imperative and I.S. as a discipline develops into the leadership role organisations recognise.

richard.duplessis@business-enlightenment.com