“David Jacobs poses the key questions you should ask when considering new systems that have a sales or customer focus.

A new system is often seen by the modern business as a solution to its problems. But without a careful questioning approach, the introduction of such a system can easily become more of a problem than a solution.

Worse, in the customer-facing systems arena, not ‘getting it right’ can be more damaging than in other areas of the business – resulting in loss of sales or even complete business meltdown. 

As a start point, most people accept that projects to implement customer-facing systems usually fail when run as a technical exercise. This is so well-known that we should be way beyond such misapprehensions by now. The problem is, we don’t get much detail on how to run projects as a truly business-led exercise in order to end up with the perfectly aligned IS/IT and business functions the pundits talk so much about. We know we need to focus on business objectives but after that the signal goes weak.

One way forward is to ask the following key questions when you are faced with a possible systems project in the customer area. After each question, there is a short analysis describing how to get it right:

Question 1: Do you really need more ‘computerisation’?

Too often the sales department believes it needs ‘a new CRM system’ when in fact that’s not the real problem. Challenge the assumption that poor systems are to blame: is it improved business processes you need rather than improved software systems?

For example, I was once asked to specify requirements for a project to implement a package solution for a media sales business. What I found was, in fact, the client needed a new set of business processes before any new systems could be usefully considered. The existing processes were highly complex having evolved over time in a semi-manual environment; and shadowing them in a new software system (package) would have been almost impossible without an inordinate degree of customisation.

The new system was seen by management as ‘the answer’ when in fact it was a delusion that a new system would clean up their processes. Please be aware that any remit to change processes as little as possible when matching them to incoming software is dangerous, in terms of achieving business value. Any business process in scope has to be in very good shape at the very least or you will waste time and money computerising it.

Likewise, in order to get maximum value from your project, you need to know at least roughly where value comes from.

Further on, in Question 3, I present four categories of possible value. Once you know about these categories you can see why implementing new systems against complex processes without re-engineering the processes, or at least critically re-assessing them, can be so costly.

So, ask yourself what else you could do, pragmatically, to improve the customers’ experience (without making them pay for your time – there are too many poorly designed websites around where the customer is asked to do most of the work, gets frustrated and logs off!).“

www.evaluationcentre.com

 describes how to maximise business value from customer facing systems and processes in an article for The Evaluation Centre:
To read, please click Maximising Customer Facing Value takes a new approach to aligning Business Processes and Information Systems with the Customer Experience:
As so many Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and business IS/IT projects fail to improve the Customer Experience, Profit from Information has formulated an alternative approach to achieve dramatic results more quickly and on a continuing basis. With even the best of traditional IS/IT and BPR projects failing to live up to expectations, why not find out more about how your business could benefit from our Customer-Business-Information Systems practical alignment service, Contact Profit from InformationAndrew J Holmes of Paricint LLP and author of Failsafe IS Project Delivery is working with Profit from Information to build powerful new approaches and techniques to maximise business value from business IS/IT. Andrew and Profit from Information director David Jacobs will present their major new findings and solutions in a series of forthcoming articles and seminars. For more information please Contact Profit from Information

Profit from Information

Profit from Information specialises in finding new ways to produce maximum business value for external and internal customers from company processes that use information systems:

We see many public sector IT systems disasters – many projects fail, systems are badly designed, run slowly, are difficult to use and cost a fortune.

IT systems in the private sector are often little better (you are probably aware of this as a consumer or know companies who spend a fortune on IT systems and appear to get little value for money).

Gaining better results has been persistently elusive despite continual advances in technology. Research shows that between 75% and 92% of all IT systems produce no measurable net gain/benefit.

Ability to obtain net business gain from IS/IT is still in its infancy – we are where cars were in the 1930s, regularly breaking down, using a lot of oil, petrol, etc. The potential value is yet to be realised.

Against this backdrop, Profit from Information helps companies to maximise levels of business value gained from IT systems, i.e.to use Information Systems Technology for maximum benefit.

We use our own approach developed over more than 15 years, which is pragmatic, innovative and cuts to the heart of the problem – it’s also significantly, often dramatically, effective because it’s based on solving a problem and not drawn from ‘IT management text books’.

However, be assured that we enhance rather than replace existing methods and practices. We combine traditional and inherent principles of business with the newer facilities of IT systems.

We act as consultants to make sure that our clients’ business, people, information, processes and systems combine in the most effective way.

We ensure the highest rate of success, maximum value and benefits, matched expectations and an optimum return on investment (ROI) – in other words, the best possible improvement to profitability that IS/IT could possibly engender given the resources available.

Models for maximising value gained from IS/IT are changing. Profit from Information is helping them to change – why not let us help you?

University College London, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT
Joint meeting of BCS North London Branch and BCS Project Management Specialist Group

Event review by Dalim Basu (Chairman, BCS North London Branch)
As an IS project manager everybody tells you that you need to align business and IT, but nobody tells you how! Organisations expend a vast amount of time, effort and money on Information Systems and yet achieve disappointingly modest levels of business value and benefits. Business people wonder why they so often fail to address business objectives. IT people wonder why business people keep changing their requirements – or don’t even know what they want in the first place.

Will any amount of IT be able to help?

DAVID JACOBS, Director of Profit from Information Ltd. was the presenter at the event.

“When people try to put business and technology together, they may find there’s no filling in the sandwich”, explained David.

To fill the gap, he introduced some concepts from his ‘Profit Business Value Approach™’ to the improvement of information systems business value and benefits.

David felt that an appreciation of the way that business uses information and that IT processes information goes a long way towards bridging the gap in terms of generation of value.

David defined ‘Information System Business Value’ (ISBV) as the degree to which an information system helps a business to achieve its objectives.

He described ‘IT effectiveness’ as “the degree to which a physical IT system supports the ISBV”.

To improve Business Value and Benefits, David advised considering ways to:

• formulate a way of working that may use information systems at strategic points, where beneficial;
• generate business value rather than ‘purely deploying software’;

“Your approach has helped us achieve a quality almost unheard of in this environment – you have understood our business requirements perfectly”, Billing Projects Manager, International Telecommunications, London

“You have helped us to gain more business value than we thought possible”, Procurement Systems Manager, multinational Chemicals plc, Manchester

“With your approach you have helped me formulate core principles around which I have built a team of like minded people to support value-based Business-IT interaction”, Global Relationship Manager, multinational Gases plc, Surrey

“Your approach has given major impetus to user buy-in and minimised misunderstanding between management and operational departments”, IS Services Manager, Chamber of Commerce, the Midlands

For years, Information Systems Technology has been perceived as being:

• High on project failure
• High on expectations
• High on technical focus
• Low on delivery
• Low on business value
• Low on business benefits

IS/IT Solution:

Profit from Information specifically addresses these issues. We help companies to assess and improve the degree of business value gained from information systems and related activities. For the first time, a comprehensive and practical approach has been developed that typically has a significant, often dramatic, effect on levels of business value and benefits obtained. The strength of this solution grew from observation of real projects and programmes in the 1980s and 1990s and continues to be updated to this very day.

 I help businesses to gain optimal value and benefits from the use of IS/IT using skills I have acquired over 25 years

 Using The Profit Business Value Approach™, a whole new way of thinking about business value and IS/IT that I have developed, it is possible to increase value by 25, 50 or even 100%

 Firstly, I help to define the maximum possible value a business could gain from the use of IS/IT

 I then help to define the maximum proportion of such ‘theoretical’ value it would be practical to expect to achieve

 My clients do not need to stop using their existing methods as my Business Value Approach improves how existing methods are used and provides its own ‘missing links’

 You can hear more about how I do this at my free presentation and clinic called “Getting the Best for the Business from IS/IT; the Missing Links to Value”

 For more information please call me or email me

Please send any comments or ask any questions, either by commenting on a post or article - or email Profit from Information

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