Golf teaching us about software installation?

I just ran across an article from AMR Research about the technology changes in golf and how it has not changed the handicap of most golfers by a single point. They compare it to software implementations and the lack of return provided by the constant upgrades in technology.

The article also references a study done by McKinsey that showed the return on investment from improvement efforts:

• Improving management practices (i.e. business processes) improved productivity by 8%.
• Increasing the intensity of IT deployment improved productivity by 2%.
• Doing both yielded an improvement of 20%.

Software is often seen as a silver bullet and is often sold that way by software suppliers. The net effect has been very small. In my experience, I have seen the productivity of many companies go down after a software installation, and sometimes they don't recover. The return on investment comes when you look at your business processes and see how they can be improved. Then apply technology at the bottlenecks.

Don't assume that implementing technology will improve your business, even if it did a great job for a similar business! We can't all be Tiger Woods, but we can always learn from Tiger Woods. Keep learning about your business. Keep working at improving your business processes. When technology comes along that can help in some area jump at it and use it.

If you want to see the original article by AMR Research.