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by Simon Baker.
Original Post: Wake up and smell the complacency
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A recent Gartner reports says: Wake up IT managers, you're mediocre at best. A sweeping generalisation? Probably. But I've definitely worked in places where mediocrity is accepted as the norm. Typically, these have been large companies with deep hierarchies, bureaucratic culture, command-and-control management and groups of people silo'ed by role. These companies are pickled.
Gartner claims: This industry is in danger of becoming one of failure. We've come to accept mediocrity as the norm. It's not a lack of technology or skills. The problem comes down to a lack of vision. And I would add, ignorance - many companies simply don't see their mediocrity - while those that do are not able to change.
Sadly, the order of the day seems to be: Maintain the status quo to keep your existing systems up and running at all costs. Bolt new functionality onto legacy systems, and increase the already unmanageable complexity and disproportionate maintenance burden. Complicate things for everyone by building what will quickly become even more legacy systems. Don't think about gradually replacing creaking systems with new, more innovative solutions that are extensible and easy to maintain, and are feature-rich, simpler and more compelling to users. That would be too painful. Give your money away to big vendors whose business models are inflexible and consequently struggle to compete with the open-source revolution where platforms and tools are free of charge and are borne out of innovation. Lock yourself in and survive from patch to upgrade as you pay even more money for an exorbitant maintenance contract. Let their technologies and solutions constrain your innovation.
Companies have stagnated. They are caught up in their organisational constipation and are struggling to remain competitive. They rely on captive users for revenue. Users that were caught many moons ago when the companies used to be innovative. But their numbers are declining as increasingly savvy users are jumping ship to find better products and better services for less money elsewhere. To survive in today's markets, companies need to innovate more and learn to compete on the basis of speed.
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