It's fun to think of UV as the underdog and how the cards are stacked
against us. It's fun to be in the "I told you so" crowd when the
competitor fails.
But it doesn't matter if the competitor wins or loses; the reality is
that another UV site has bit the dust. WE LOST -- that's my real concern.
What didn't happen to prevent this conclusion? While it seems
politically correct to point the finger at incompetent management, or
ineffective vendor marketing, there's possibly another contributing
factor, one that we as a group seem reluctant to talk about... the fact
that we (U2 professionals) have dropped the ball. I can't help but
think that if Shane Co. had a complete, cost-effective U2 application
that supported all aspects of their business, there would have been no
reason to move away from it to SAP.
Management doesn't really care about pretty pixels nor usability. If
that's what they're telling you, then they probably think they're doing
you a favor by putting it in terms you can understand.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's always about money. Being a group of
experienced U2 business analysts, you'd think we'd know by now that it's
always about (a) increasing revenue, (b) reducing expense, (c) bringing
in more customers, (d) getting more business from the customers we have,
and (e) reducing risk. Every discussion with management must be framed
exclusively in these terms. Only then will management give you the
right to contribute your opinion to a decision. As a side benefit, they
will be wary of competitor salesmen that cannot articulate specific
revenue and expense advantages. Hard dollar figures, i.e. money,
speaks louder than marketing.
You want to put a new GUI on that old application? Management won't
stop you if you can prove it will make money or reduce support cost.
But don't be fooled; some bulls**t cost analysis won't buy you any
credibility with management. Don't expect management will do this
analysis for you; if they could, they'd already be doing it.
Back to prevention -- it takes a very deliberate and thoughtful
cost-justification strategy to build up your existing U2 application.
You need to progressively add the features it needs to ward off attacks
from SAP or other enterprise products.
rex
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