Information Technology is like a one legged stool

Every business today uses computers. It's hard to run a business without one. Even if you have a very simple business, you need to communicate with your clients and your suppliers and they force you into this world. Most businesses look at computers to improve the waay they do business. They look to productivity improvements, or functions that cannot be done without them.

Most of the technology that we buy is underutilized. The price of hardware has dropped so much that is is cheaper to put in too much hardware than to provide smaller alternatives. Software is the same. It is cheaper to distribute a single piece of software than to try and maintain multiple copies. So we have much more than we need.

There are two problems with this excess capacity. First, the software and hardware is more complex and harder to maintain. Each of us pays for this complexity. We may think we are getting value for money, but unless we can use it, the complexity adds up to more costs. In a large business, this may be manageable. In many small businesses, this can add up to slowdowns, extra downtime, extra support costs, productivity loss.

The second problem is that the complexity makes the software more difficult to learn and implement. I see many small organizations that fail to achieve the benefits from the software they bought. Part of this is caused by the fact that there are too many features. Part of it is caused by the expectation that the software is bought as a "silver bullet". Install the software and it's magic. Things will be better. It doesn't happen. It takes a lot of effort to get value from new software. Some parts may be easy. Getting real value is not.

I see Information Technology as a three legged stool. I will ignore the hardware at this point, because it doesn't provide value. It simply allows you to use the software. I will also ignore tools like Microsoft Office for the moment.

Leg #1 is the business software. It can be as simply as Quickbooks or as complex as SAP. Business software comes with built in business process assumed. It expects you to work in a certain way. If you do, then you get the best return. It helps you to do the job. If you don't, then it can make your life difficult, whether by forcing you to do things multiple times or by getting bad information because of the quality of data entered. If you look at your business process before you try to implement, you will be more successful.

That leads us to leg#2, the business process. The business process is how something moves through your organization, say from order to cash (your real goal is to get paid for the product or service that you deliver). If you understand all of the steps in this process, and understand how the software will help you to make that process more effective, then you will get significantly more value from the software. In many cases, even when an organization has looked at its business process, they encounter problems. The reason is that when you change business processes, you affect people. It's often been said that people resist change. That is true. People don't want to change if they don't see the value! Why should we? We are comfortable with what we do, we are more efficient when we know what we are doing, and we know how to prevent errors. Give me a new process that I don't understand, I will be less productive and I am more likely to produce errors. Why should I change? OK, some people like change for the sake of change, but we can only take so much. If you wake up one morning in a new house, have to drive a new car and go to a new job, how comfortable are you?

This leads us to the third leg: People. If you don't consider people, you will be less successful. I have seen many software projects that redesigned and implemented processes without involving the staff that did the job. The designs were based on senior staff or management input, and the process was automated to do what they wanted. The problem was that the process was not based on current reality. It was based on old experience (Senior staff and management don't do the day to day job), or on ideas of how things should work. The staff tried to work with it, but had to create all kinds of workarounds to get the job done. This reduced productivity, created frustrations with the staff and made them resent the change. Is there any doubt as to why people resist change? By involving staff in the goals of the change, in the redesign of the process and in how the software can provide tools to improve the process, you end up with a more effective process and less resistance to change.

So there you have it. A stool with three legs: Software, process and people. All three are critical for success.

There are two other elements that you will see on a stool and these are important as well.

• The first is the goal. The goal is to have a place to sit. The seat describes the goal of the project. This goal is a business goal, not a technical one. See yesterday's post for examples of the business goal. It's important that the goal be well understood and repeated regularly. Try sitting on a stool without a seat, if you don't understand. I have seen many stools without a proper seat.
• The second is support. Ever seen a stool without supports between the legs? Doesn't last for long does it? As with the stool, you need support between the legs (Software to people and process, process to people).

The most important thing is Focus. In real estate, they say there are three things that are important: Location, location, location. In IT projects, it's: Focus, focus, focus.