Marketers in the IT industry seem unable to learn a vital lesson: the importance of telling the truth, warts and all. Someone has got to tell them that the more you talk turkey, the more you get to be taken seriously.
While some companies have seen the light, be warned that it`s by no means the easy way out. You`ll be commended for doing so, until even the most pleasantly surprised customer requires that you do a job. (Maybe that`s the downside everybody is so scared of.)
I suppose it`s natural to want to cast your product and people in the most favourable light - and to ignore media inquiries when the trouble starts. But it`s also very short-sighted. For that, and no other reason, people have the IT industry`s measure - for its "hype cycles" and its "ja-ja" factor - otherwise known as "loftily-worded advertising believed by nobody".
For mostly related reasons, the industry is mistrusted to the point where it cannot lift itself from a Gartnerian "trough of disillusionment" five years old, with no general upturn in sight. I`m disappointed that Gartner would even credit such a cynical industry-wide ploy with a name.
Case in point
The findings of ITWeb`s outsourcing survey are apposite. If you listen to the promise of outsourcing, it`s all "get on with what you know and love, and we`ll sort out the rest, more cheaply, with our economies of scale and know-how". Yet 41% of companies surveyed report that they`ve had to pick up after an outsourcing deal that went sour. That`s a big number. If it were more of the order of 5%, we`d have a service area that is living up to promise. But we don`t.
Why, according to respondents, do deals go off? Sorry, it`s not the answer you want to hear. It`s "poor service delivery" (67%). Today, of course, we have service management frameworks that sort this out. But does this mean a whole generation of service providers did their thing without understanding their offering? Or did they do so in full knowledge that the methodology needed work? I`d rather not know.
So when somebody next tries to sell you outsourcing, come forearmed with these questions: What are your reference sites? What SLAs are in place? (Come with the attitude that they had better benefit you demonstrably.) What does Cobit stand for?
The lesson, reiterated
It`s clear to me that purveyors of IT should roll with the punches; they should sell responsibly, and when they mess up, they should answer their critics.
Carel Alberts, special editions editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
It`s clear to me that purveyors of IT should roll with the punches; they should sell responsibly, and when they mess up, they should answer their critics. They should swallow the bitterest of pills, failure, and get on with the real business of honing a service that works.
While we`re being honest, let`s dispel some other computer industry myths. A nice one to begin with is the eternal fight between copying and printing companies. I cannot vouch for a single bit of this piece, especially not the intriguing bit about "Canon doing HP`s print engines", but it`s good stuff anyway, if it makes you think.
If you want something meatier, here`s an article on the commonly misunderstood area of Web services, written by Frank Cohen. Pay attention to the part about SOAP and .Net`s often-vaunted openness and 'closedness`, respectively.
If you`re into journalism, maybe you want to know if it`s true that John Dvorak and Robert Cringely stand alone in their critical distance from the industry, or whether they share other traits, such as "journalistic sloppiness, mendacity and nastiness".
No discussion on computers would be complete without mentioning open source. There is persistent misinformation about this movement from proprietary circles, and open source has enough trouble with growing up into selling and supporting software than to have to field such nonsense too.
If you`re in the market for studying technology, this might be a good read. It`s specific to the US, but it points to the need to study the market before you book the course. Other gems further down are worth a read, such as the assertion that BASIC is a "backronym".
Of course, not all myths revealed for what they are benefit only the consumer. Here`s a well-intentioned piece of advice to consumers that might help the industry sell some more widgets. Don`t say I don`t have your best interests at heart.
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