Last Thursday...

We had a very interesting visitor last Thursday who shall remain unnamed so that said individual won’t pop-up in his/her employer’s web searches.

There were several elements of the presentation that certainly attracted my attention but in particular I would like to highlight two of them:

1 – The hardware exhibition was awesome. He probably needs a special workout to develop the shoulder strength to carry all that around. I liked how despite the constant multiplication of information in today’s world, there’s always some interesting concept developed to keep all that information safe. Additionally, as a technology inclined person, I always find it fascinating to listen to people talk with such passion about what they do.

2 – How important it is to understand the underlying business need that will be satisfied through the adoption of innovative technologies i.e. don’t just implement technology for the sake of it. From past experience at a large multinational corporation, I can certainly confirm this. Around the year 2000, it was obvious that a new consolidation and reporting system was needed. However, instead of focusing on what the Financial Planning and Analysis department needed to do their job and developing a solution that would work for that and not against it, the company forced everbody to adapt to a software that was top of the line but unfortunately not aligned with what the company and in particular Financial Planning needed. The end result: planning continued in Excel and the implementation project that started in 2001 is not fully finished as of today. Even after it is fully implemented, around 60% of its intended functionalities are not being used by employees. The company is already starting a new and very expensive project to change the systems yet again within the next 2 to 3 years, this time apparently making sure that the underlying needs are heard and met. However, millions of dollars and working hours have already been wasted.