The question that stumped some of us went something like this. CIOs take decisions on IT strategy and architecture thereby setting the foundation of the technology that will enable the enterprise for a long time. So when selecting an ERP or similar system what are the criteria to select one over the other considering that once a specific technology is chosen, it will stay for a really long time. It’s like a lock-in because no one changes ERP systems normally. How do you then manage cost escalations and support?

ERP implementation and all that follows

Now, as I know, the question is largely an accurate portrayal of reality. At the time of selecting an ERP, every enterprise painstakingly reviews most options before assigning the family jewels to the solution. Such magnitude of projects is always launched with fanfare, with senior management speeches and project naming ceremonies. Committees are formed with best intent and sooner or later the project goes live. I am not getting into the success or the challenges that typical projects face; that’s another story.

Over the years, with increasing licenses and customizations, the sustenance cost starts to hurt; CIOs find ways to reduce support costs or squeeze licenses deployed to keep operating expenses low. The thought of replacement is rarely tabled and considered impractical. How can such a change be ever executed? Who will drive this? Change will be disruptive to the business. The cost of replacement will be extremely high and not worth the effort.

The perils of ERP replacement:

I am sure that these reasons have some echoes for every CIO. Change is indeed a herculean task when it impacts almost everyone in the company; especially so when the change will have the biggest impact on the IT organization. Apart from the change that every employee will have to go through, the IT teams will have to get out of their comfort zones and drive the change from the front while keeping the lights on and business chugging along as usual. So is ERP replacement the peak that no CIO wants to even attempt? Or is it only for the few brave expedition leaders akin to climbing the Mount Everest? Yes the biggest peak has been climbed a few times and so has ERP migrations done with sparse frequency. Why this reluctance in proposing the change or embracing the challenge to climb mountains?

I believe that the vendor lock-in created around the difficulty of ERP change is to some extent promulgated by the CIO. It is time to abandon this myth and start exploring new horizons in the new world being created around us. We can be part of the creators rather than accept status quo irrespective of whether we were part of the original decision or not. Every decision taken is based on facts at the time and is largely a correct decision. Should we allow this to constrain the future? After all, if you keep climbing smaller mountains, no one rejoices with you as much as if you did climb the Mount Everest!

I do receive and read more than 50 odd newsletters every day across various subjects; industry specific from retail (my chosen industry for the last five years), Human Resources (for people tips and ideas), e-commerce, social media, leadership, current affairs, regional news, politics, and many CIO focused sites. These are supplemented with some internet browsing, five newspapers and some IT magazines daily. The summaries and news briefs keep me updated with information which helps me understand trends and stay current with the world.

Being worldly relevant
Coming back to my search of the sites, the idea was to look at what is the world talking about? Can I pick up a few insights that could help me in creating the next week’s blog? Are my posts still relevant to the CIO or am I living in a world detached from reality? What new innovation have I missed while running on the technology treadmill (see my last week’s post) and getting to be a retailer and a coach to start-up CEOs and future CIOs?

Headlines on new product introductions (tablets, phones, servers) and some of the hyped upcoming technologies took up 70% of the landing page across all the sites. A few links to notable blogs on the sites, vendor advertisements and videos made up another 20%. Desperately, I started scanning for CIO leadership, business challenges, innovation, people management, and customer engagement, anything that was removed from technology.

CIO case studies
On one site I did find some hidden behind a menu option; it was a CIO case study on how she overcame a difficult business situation with her expertise in business. On another site, a menu button offered expert advice; but clicking a few links got me some technology experiments and vendor sponsored white papers. When every publication rues and makes a case for a business savvy CIO, why is the content not reflecting this? Why are these sites still about technology and are they really targeting the CIO?

The CIO and business
Take any IT publication (physical or electronic), irrespective of the target audience (CIO, IT managers, channel partners, broad-based audience), the editorial or one of the cover stories is always about what the CIO should be doing to stay relevant to the business. The underlying theme is always about business before IT. But after the preaching is done, back to business as usual, do you know about the new 64-core server or the next crossover device with zillion pixel screen?

They proclaim, CIOs should evolve, cite surveys from other CXOs, CIOs, vendors … and then publish technology trends, new servers, tablets, smart phone comparisons, stuff that matters to a technology professional, and detached from a CIO who would depend on his/ her team to advise him on the relevant tools required to achieve the defined business objective. Why can they not walk their talk if their defined target audience is indeed the CIO or the senior IT leader?

I believe that evolution is slower and selective than technology innovation.

– Theodore Roosevelt

There have been predictions on hot technologies and trends to watch out for across the board; from vendors, IT consulting companies, media companies (not just IT), academic circles, individuals, groups of various kinds, CIOs or otherwise. The lists, short and long, good and bad, have caught the imagination of many CIOs as well as others within the company who are asking how will it impact us within the company, and our customers.

Any good tools?

It is certain that a few will create enough hype and threaten disruption. Be it personal devices or back-end technologies or even consumer-facing applications, every new tool or technology promises to change the way business is conducted or how we engage with customers. Some are improvements over existing tools, wherein the novelty factor fades away quickly with the response of the existing leaders; the rest fail to follow up on the initial promises.

We occasionally find some (tools) actually providing benefit to the enterprise; some are measurable, while the rest is largely a race against competition to deploy, and ‘look’ savvy. Our employees and customers expect the adoption of almost every new announcement the following day. Thoughts about security or reworking or plain simple ROI are for the CIO to figure out. Vendors and consultants definitely benefit from this running behind the technology.

From the time of the mainframes to the promise of the Internet, social media, and consumerized devices of today, with apps and everything in between, technology has created opportunities and challenges for the IT organization. The pace of change is increased with ubiquitous technology; the accelerator is now on auto with everyone running to stay in place. Can we afford to stay where we are, and be observers or slow adopters with a hope to survive the mad rush to nowhere? Is there a likely respite from the ever increasing pace of changing expectations?

Can you ignore the change?

The technology treadmill will continue to move irrespective of whether we hop on board or not. It is extremely unlikely that we will be allowed to stay on the sidelines and admire the speed at which the treadmill and its players are going. CIOs will have to stay connected to the pulse and inspect every change from multiple angles. Some team members will have to keep jumping on and off the treadmill to ensure that the ramifications are understood and communicated effectively to set realistic expectations.

In most cases, the call on which ones to stay with or discard will remain with the IT organization. Success or lack of it will however be decided by our internal and external customers and stakeholders. Can the CIO get off the technology treadmill and stay relevant? I believe that pragmatically the CIO and now even the other CXOs have no choice. They did not enroll into this madness; but have been made party to it simply by being there; exclusion is not even an option anymore.

I am going back to the treadmill with a quote that I leave behind after listening to some retired CIOs:

“Strangely enough this is the past that someone in the future is longing to go back to.”

– Ashleigh Brilliant.