Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.151 2024.05.01 Takahashi Minoru

Contracts protect the IT vendor, not the client

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


Every small and medium-sized enterprise has some degree of person-dependent work.
"Person-dependent" tasks refer to tasks that "only that person can perform."
These are the specialized skills—whether in interpersonal relationships or task execution—that are limited to specific individuals.


IT vendors everywhere unanimously tout the elimination of person-dependent tasks.
They list complaints like “stop using Excel macros” or “standardize your work procedures,”
and strive to imbue the term “person-dependent” with negative connotations.


The reason IT vendors push for the elimination of person-dependent tasks is to sell their own software packages.
As you are aware, person-dependent tasks naturally come with their own drawbacks and risks,
but IT vendors repeatedly emphasize these negative aspects to achieve their primary objective.


However, person-dependent work is something that should inherently be appreciated.
Thanks to the unique craftsmanship rooted in each individual’s qualities,
we should properly recognize the fact that colleagues and business partners are benefiting from this.


Attempting to “eliminate” or “move away from” this approach too hastily could lead to a decline in service quality.
In fact, it may not even be possible to standardize operations as promised, potentially causing the implementation to fail.
To ensure the outcome does not benefit anyone other than the IT vendor,
we recommend carefully evaluating any packages or solutions.


If you ever encounter any issues with Access,
we can provide maintenance to keep the system running exactly as it is,
so please feel free to contact us.
There is no need to contact us until an actual problem arises.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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