Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.71 2017.04.01 Takahashi Minoru

You should never assign underperforming employees to the IT department

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


I’d like to share an experience I recently heard from a fellow systems company, Company A,
about their experience with system development and the aftermath.


This IT firm, Company A,
received a request for system development from Company B, a client they were courting,
and held meetings with Company B’s staff to discuss the system details.


The employee in charge of the system at Company B
a “former field worker” who is now a “system administrator.”
Company A placed high hopes on Company B’s representative’s background (※Note)
and began the meetings and detailed system design.


However, the representative from Company B
"doesn’t understand the field operations"
"I don’t know who to ask,"
“I can’t determine which features are necessary”
“I’m absolutely terrible with computers,”
at various points throughout the discussion.


I’ll skip some of the details, but
・The delivery date ended up being about twice as long as originally expected
・The budget increased to about 1.8 times the original amount
・Approximately 45% of the implemented features remained unused when the system was due for renewal five years later


That is how the situation reportedly unfolded.


*Note: The reason System Company A placed high hopes on the experience of the person in charge of Client B
Generally speaking, system administrators who are “former field workers”
・Have firsthand experience with the rules unique to the industry or that company
・Have a certain understanding of the issues faced by the field staff and customers
・Has a connection (personal relationship) with another employee who is knowledgeable about a specific topic
・Possesses a certain degree of logical thinking
Because they often possess these qualities,
they tend to be seen as “reliable” by systems engineers.


It was a joke that wasn’t really funny.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

------------------------------

■ Previous / Next Column ■

＜＜＜ Next Column Vol.72 - Your business system is your company itself 2017.07.01

＞＞＞ Previous Column Vol.70 - The best place to store files in Windows Explorer is right under the drive 2017.04.01

Back to Column List