The eWorld Radar

Annoying sales calls...

There is an interesting discussion taking place on LinkedIn amongst CIOs on how annoying sales calls from technology vendors can be.

The fact that this is a significant issue for CIOs tarnishes the reputation of the IT industry. It also creates tension between the IT function and the vendors, which in turn leads to a dampening of the potential business value of the associated services.

My suggestion, based on the work I do with vendors in this respect is:

• Recruit sales staff that are relationship builders rather than order takers
• Create management KPIs that encourage relationship building rather than end of quarter harassment.

The macho sales guy who enjoys smashing down doors and selling people stuff  they don’t want or need is a somewhat Jurassic relic that needs to be decommissioned immediately.

Intimacy or Relevance?

What’s more important?

This applies whether you are a CIO with c-suite aspirations or a service provider looking to sell big-ticket.

Logic says relevance. Heart says intimacy.

Intimacy without relevance throws up a value question mark.

Relevance without intimacy suggests trust has yet to be established.

So both are needed. But if I had to focus on one, I’d go for intimacy, because the value you deliver may  not necessarily lie in your subject matter expertise, but in being an empathic human.

Trust underpins strong relationships.

HR + IT = Business value?

It seems obvious that the smart application of new technologies coupled with intelligent talent management would create unbeatable organisations. The problem lies with the smart and intelligent bits.

We have to ask ourselves what is causing IT and HR departments to under perform. Business and society need to know.

Infrastructure is the new applications

Some organisations are so set in their ways that their offices and corridors are structurally identical to the company organogram. Their command and control structures are literally reinforced with bricks and mortar. And so too their IT infrastructure.

Such arthritic organisations are unlikely to flex with the market and thus their sustainability is in question. 

Today’s organisations need to make better decisions quicker by bringing people together in ways that cut across the traditional hierarchy. Whether it be a task force, advisory panel or research team, to dynamically bring people together to capitalise on time-sensitive opportunities/issues requires agility. So you need:

1. Fluidity in the manner in which people can collaborate
2. An infrastructure that supports dynamic collaboration.

You won’t get the first point unless you implement the second. Unfortunately there is no ‘app’ for this. So get ready to ‘pull up the floor boards’, as the sustainability of today’s businesses lies in the infrastructure.

CIO: Meet the CLO

After several cancellations on the CEO’s part, the CIO finally gets some ‘face time’. The CIO is charged up, excited by what he is about to unleash in the boardroom in respect of new-technology fuelled game-changing innovation.

Two minutes into the presentation, the CEO remembers that he had a problem with Outlook and stops the CIO midstream.

This scenario is being played out across the world. Most CEO’s perceive their CIOs as their Chief Laptop Officer. This is of course bad news for CIOs but worse for the technology vendors who need a genuine C-suite level sponsor.

Tech Market – The End Games

As the IT market comes to its closing stages, it is interesting to work out who will be the last men standing. But it is not clear where they will be standing. The battles appear to be playing out on a number of fronts:

• Infrastructure domination – Eg. IBM, Cisco, HP, EMC
• Corporate service domination – Eg. IBM, HP, Tata
• Consumer domination – Eg. Apple, Microsoft, Cisco
• Information / knowledge domination – Eg. EMC, Oracle, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft.

Personally I don’t think there is a long term play in products, so Sap might like to reconsider acquiring or being acquired.

Here’s some guidelines if your organisation would like to enter these theatres:

• Infrastructure domination – Forget it. Or buy one of the potential last men standing (see above)
• Corporate service domination – Buy McKinsey or a similar boardroom-branded front-end
• Consumer domination – Forget it. Or recruit the marketing director of Nike, Walt Disney, Citigroup or McDonalds and give them the budget they are used to
• Information / knowledge domination – Buy anything that moves that has the word collaboration in the corporate bio. This game is far from over.

Let me know if I can be of further help.