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These aren't second rate

The integrated portal based web-enabled systems that are replacing all those client-server and client-only stovepipes are anything but second rate. The days of duplicate entry and data inconsistency will soon, we hope, be behind us, and we can work with consistent data from the shop floor to the CEO's office and our trading partners - better, faster, cheaper. No, corporate America can no longer afford the administrative nightmare of a myriad of custom applications. The costs were great, the benfits questionable. It is not simply executive caprice that is slimming down the desktop (to quote one of contractors, "...not anorexic, but no longer corpulent").

Here's one of the fallouts of providing high customization. Dave in Dubuque finds the neat toy on his desk enables him to automate his process. So he builds a bit, and a few others in the office start to use his product. Soon Dave is happily giving demos, adding functionality, answering questions (but of course there's nobody to provide assistance when Dave is on travel or vacation).

Eventually, Bob decides he needs Dave to get back to work. So he calls his friendly CIO, says you need to support this application - it's great. CIO of course wants to support the customer, so he re-directs personnel, delaying a mission-critical application to write user manual, help desk procedures, capture in configuration management, etc. Now comes a demo for Walla-Walla. But the Walla-Walla folks respond with blank stares and shrugs. "What is this? We don't do things that way." However, Bangor does do it that way, almost. So Bill in Bangor gets and advance copy and tweeks it slightly to fit his way of doing things, which in turn is almost the same as the rest of the Bangorians. One Bangorian can't quite figure out what's going on, so he calls the help desk. But the technician doesn't have a screen like the one the Bangorian described. Better get somebody out there to resolve this new issue. All the while applications the executive suite committed to are falling behind, and nobody is sure why. Anybody recall Viet Nam? We're getting progressively bogged down in this small favor we set out to do for our good friend Bob.

Folks, much as we would like to give everybody exactly what they want, at the end of the day these are corporate resources and our stewardship responsibility says keep the resourses focused where they can contribute to mission success. The thin client may not be everybody's idea of nirvana, but corporate policy has really grown up through many years of accumulated experience. And lest you think the few corporate clients and employers to whom I have been responsible represent an anomalous fringe, try the trade press, such as CIO magazine or Business Week.

Posted by: IT_User   Posted on: 12/22/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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