It might succeed, if management throws enough manpower and servers into
it. But at what expense? Who's going to coordinate the implementation?
Who's going to determine and map out all the interactions between datasets
and processes? How will data be moved from one process to the next,
perhaps on a different server? How many "administrators" will be required
to maintain that whole enterprise (polite word for mess?) Are programs to
be translated from COBOL to another language? Who's going to train staff?
At what expense?
I believe that these are all valid questions that need to be answered
before any prognosis of success or failure can be made.
In my admittedly limited experience, that server farm is going to take a
significant increase in manpower just to maintain the status quo; finding
and/or making a developer staff is also going to be a major headache. You
might find people that know the languages, but they still need to learn
about the business. And as others have already noted, security and legal
issues will further muddy the waters.
All this may be true ....
The problem is not whether it is true or not, but whether it is really your
responsibility to raise these questions. It's one thing if your input is
being solicited, but it becomes problematic when management is being
questioned about expenditures and costs by subordinates.
As I said, these questions need to be answered, and ultimately they will be.
However, all too often, the people raising concerns don't have the complete
story (and are not involved in the decisions), so when they begin to push
the issue they are perceived as stepping way over the line regarding both
their authority and responsibility.
From the general tone of this discussion, we need to take a step back and
stop assuming that we're the only people that care what happens in an
organization.
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