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The Devil's Advocate: Who's killing the killer apps?
The IT manager, in the library, with a lead pipe...

By Martin Brampton

Published: Tuesday 05 November 2002

Top IT managers have lost faith in their ability to change the world. Once, there was much talk about competitive advantage from IT. Now it seems that although chief executives continue to believe in the power of technology, the men who actually manage it are cynical. How can we explain this contradiction?

Way back, computers were used for such mundane jobs as automating the payroll or keeping track of the purchase ledger. Nobody had the nerve to claim that a company could beat its competitors by having a better payroll system. Perhaps it could manage its affairs more efficiently, but the differences between companies were small.

Excitement rose when it suddenly seemed that clever use of computers could really drive a business forward. Conferences galore were regaled with the story of Thomson Holidays, who used technology to feed better information to travel agents. The result was a significant boost to the number of bookings, increasing Thomson's market share.

Trouble is, wizard wheeze though it was, it did not always work. What could happen was that the first mover paid all the set up costs, and was then exposed to highly effective cost comparison against competitive followers. It was soon apparent that smart technology could cut either way.

Recently a survey suggested that the message has not been lost on IT managers, who now have little faith in their ability to provide an edge. Most saw their function as the delivery of a utility. They also know from bitter experience how often things go wrong with IT projects. In sharp contrast to their pessimism, a majority of chief executives was found to still have faith in IT as a differentiator. I can think of two possible explanations, the first good and the second not so good.

It isn't the jokes, it's the way you tell them. Or, getting back to our subject, it is not so much the IT systems as the way you use them. If people are motivated and trained to use systems effectively, much more is achieved than if the technology is thrust upon them. On an optimistic view, chief executives are thinking in terms of what can be done through an imaginative combination of people and machines.

Disappointments come from the all too many projects that take a short view. Developers tend to focus on functionality and to neglect quality of service. That is enough to cause a good many failures simply because the system fails to perform satisfactorily in a production setting. Further problems arise when an automated system is less flexible than the process it replaces.

But the biggest problem is that no technology is sufficient on its own to change behaviour. The system may be designed perfectly and be functioning effectively. On its own, that is not enough to motivate people to change their working practices in a way that makes the best use of the new facilities. It is a problem that is rarely within the competence of IT people to solve on their own. Good chief executives are in a position to do better.

Fascination with gadgetry is the less creditable explanation for the chief executives' optimism. Despite all the setbacks, it seems that people still love technology and believe in its potency. After all, gadgets like mobile phones have changed lifestyles. A new computer system sounds like an easy way to achieve dramatic change in an organisation. Occasionally it works. More often, without considerable planning and effort, it does not.

Looking back at the raw figures we have a majority of chief executives believing in competitive edge from IT, against about one in six IT bosses. Perhaps it is too simple, but the obvious way forward is for them to get together more. The worst outcome would be a spending spree on gadgetry. At best, we might see more companies working on the people problems that create most difficulty. Instead of seeing technology as the solution, we could see it as support for the solution. Want to give it a try?

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He has been a frequent contributor to silicon.com's Behind the Headlines TV programme and can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk .