Download The Computing Desiderata In today`s fiercely competitive world, it is

The Computing Desiderata
A Chairman’s view on the role of IT in business…
In today’s fiercely competitive world, it is an imperative that the various
functional arms of a business (Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance,
…) share a common vision of what is to be achieved and have clear missions
on which to deliver. How often though, through simple inability to
comprehend what might be possible, do we hobble our teams in these
demanding roles? Poor use of information technology (IT) is often just such
a case. Too many organisations regard their IT Departments as simply a
cost centre. Too few recognise that a genuine, benefit sharing, partnership
between the IT Department and functional heads prepared to undertake
radical change, can generate breakthroughs in both service improvement and
cost reduction. How might this ‘Desiderata’ of common purpose and shared
goals be brought about?
First, the IT function needs to be run by people who demonstrably combine
both IT and business skills. Their real job is to act as translators, presenting
technical capabilities in business terms, such as:
• More effective customer involvement. In many organisations cost can
be saved and customer satisfaction sharply improved by simply
allowing the customer to design or specify their own requirements
through web access. From the large multinational (e.g. Dell at
www.dell.com) to small manufacturers (e.g. Jali at www.jali.co.uk),
outsourcing cost to the customer has a proven track record of success.
• Creating new sources of value. Every customer transaction now
comes with its own information trail. Careful collection and analysis
of that data leads to many new opportunities for service improvement,
incremental sales and saleable market analysis. The behaviour of
retailers such as Tesco and drugstore.com is highly instructive.
• New ways to charge. To what extent can new technologies allow
products, formerly sold only once, to be turned into services with a
recurring revenue stream? The shift from selling textbooks that are
almost immediately out of date to selling on line access to the most
current source again points the way.
• Competing in new ways. How might I exploit the strength of my
brand, extending it into new market sectors based on technology
enabled ‘white label’ or fulfilment deals without having to develop the
products or services in house?
• Taking out cost. More effect co-ordination up and down supply
chains through the use of extranets to drive out stock and to deliver on
a “just in time” basis. Using ‘self service’ internally through the use
of Intranets in areas like Human Resources and administrative
functions.
Second, we need more professional company boards; Directors need to be
familiar with the key disciplines of each of their colleagues. Manufacturing
needs to understand the strengths (and weaknesses) of sales and vice versa.
Boards have collective responsibility, this means that all Directors are
responsible for the agreed actions of their colleagues, yet how many
Directors are not really sales literate, marketing literate or, in particular, IT
literate? Through its ‘Chartered Director’ qualification, the Institute of
Directors (IoD) is driving up boardroom standards. Such Boards will be
more open to genuine consideration of change options.
Third, the Board needs to create a culture that expects and relishes the
challenge of change. This implies:
• active support for change programmes that cross organisational
boundaries, maintaining clear business cases and driving post
implementation reviews to ensure that the promised benefits are
delivered;
• developing, training and valuing multidisciplinary professionals – the
programme managers. Those people who can explain why change is
necessary and are capable of carrying through the concurrent
developments to performance measurement and reward systems often
essential to successful change; and
• tackling the challenging issues around performance measurement and
pay to give incentives, where appropriate, to break out of the
functional silos that straight jacket too many companies.
Where all of these elements come together UK organisations can be worldbeaters. At present though, research suggests that we lag behind the US in
productivity improvement largely because we fail to drive through the
process and organisation change required to make our IT investments truly
effective. So perhaps (with apologies to Max Ehrmann) the IT Desiderata is
this:
“Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and do not be deflected from doing what is right for your organisation.
As far as possible without surrender,
be on good terms with all business heads.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
And listen to others,
even those who are not IT professionals;
they too have their story…”
Prof. Jim Norton
Senior Policy Adviser
Institute of Directors