Confessions of an IT Guy

Scott sat alone that morning in the small corner booth at his favorite downtown eating and meeting place. As he gazed out the nearby window, he noticed a small patch of earth bursting forth colorful tulips to announce that Spring had finally arrived in mid-Michigan. Waiting for his friend Jim to arrive, Scott began to read through the E-mail that had collected in his smart-phone’s inbox since he left his office last night. One particular message seemed to catch his full attention and he began to ponder a response to his client’s question.

“Why the long face?” interrupted Jim. “Oh, hi buddy, good to see you!” responded Scott.

As they exchanged the obligatory greetings, the waitress arrived with a piping hot mug of coffee for each of them. “Thanks Beth!” they both responded at the same time. They had sat in this corner booth before. In fact, they met regularly here in the restaurant’s comfortable surroundings to share life and discuss business, family and politics. Scott, the younger of the two men, had looked up to Jim as a mentor and confidant for many years. Today he had something important to confess, so he was thankful for the opportunity to talk.

“So…” Jim began, “you look a little down-in-the-mouth this morning. Is something bugging you?”

“Actually, I’m glad you asked.” Scott replied. “But before I tell you, I want you to understand that I’m not complaining, just a little frustrated. I also want you to know that I love my job! I mean, I really get tremendous satisfaction from helping people, solving problems, and making technology easier for people to use. But I feel like there is so much more I could be doing for these organizations. I’m frustrated when I’m not in a position to help. I feel that many organizations are not making wise use of their technology resources or budgets. They seem to grasp the tremendous power that technology holds in store for them, but are unable to tap into it and take full advantage of it. If I could teach them how to harness the full power, and put it to use within their organizations, we would see a lot more successful businesses around town.”

“So…” acknowledged Jim in his usual active-listening style. “You have a good relationship with these people and you’re their trusted IT advisor. What’s the problem? Why can’t you help them find what they’re missing?”

“That’s my frustration!” replied Scott as he threw his hands in the air. “Here’s my theory: We live in this fast-paced, do-it-yourself society with access to tremendous amounts of information and ‘free advice’ on the Internet. People read about some new device or software and then plunge ahead with it before they’ve ever really identified the underlying problem that needs to be solved. This is aggravated by the fact that our E-mail inboxes are bombarded daily with advertisements for some shiny new gadget, or cool tool, that’s ‘on sale today only.’ It’s hard for business managers to stay focused on what’s important and which technologies will provide them with the real value.”

Jim interjected, “Sounds like short-sighted thinking.”

“That’s part of it,” confirmed Scott. “The worst part is, every time one of these short-sighted projects goes down the tubes, the boss becomes less and less likely to say yes the next time someone suggests spending money on IT.”

“So what I hear you saying is that you’re frustrated because people are making poor decisions and not getting very good value from their investment in technology. So if you had an opportunity to advise them, how would you approach that?” asked Jim.

Beth stopped by to refill their coffee mugs as Scott began to speak. “In the E-mail that I was reading when you arrived, the sender noted that they would like to start keeping better track of sales-related communications they have with their customers. Then they asked which Customer Relationship Management software I would recommend; Outlook, Goldmine or ACT. The problem is, I can’t possibly advise them on what software is best for them without taking the time to understand their unique needs and desires. It’s like you calling your travel agent and telling them you’re interested in taking a vacation, then asking where’s the best place to go: Chicago, Miami, or Seattle. The answer depends on what you want to see, how long you wish to be away, how many friends will join you, what’s your budget, etc, etc. The same holds true for these critical technology decisions.

“I think business decision makers have a better chance of finding real IT business value if they employ a very simple methodology that I call ‘Business Focus First,’ which basically means, develop the business process first; then look for a technical solution to help make the process efficient. For example, if I want to improve a process, I need to fully understand it, and that starts with asking questions and documenting answers. In this case, I would document how the sales team engages its customers and prospects today. I’ve found that a great way to do this is with a flowchart that shows step-by-step what data or customer activities are currently being tracked, who is recording the information, what forms are being used, etc.

“Secondly, I need to look for ways to improve the workflow by putting on my thinking cap and enlisting input from others; then drawing a flowchart that shows what I would like the process to look like. Again, it’s a step-by-step detailed diagram that makes it very easy to understand. Once this analysis is complete, then and only then would I look for the proper technology to apply. I strongly believe that most business processes can be improved with technology, but it has to be the right fit at the right cost to provide real business value.”

“And that’s where it becomes elusive,” interjected Jim.

“Right again” agreed Scott. “And no matter how much money an organization invests in the best products and software tools, without a qualified team to implement, manage, and coordinate the solution, managers will rarely see the full benefit.”

Beth walked by again and with a smile asked, “Are you boys going to eat or just yak…?”