The mismatch of enterprise IT and innovative technology (and what to do about it..)

 There is an epidemic mismatch of enterprise IT and innovative technology. I will in this post try to explain not only what I mean by this, but also what can hopefully be done to remedy it. But where to start? 

Complacency in corporate IT

Anybody who has worked long enough in IT has seen it, and we all have our own stories; complacent corporate IT. That old server that hasn't been patched in years. That ERP system that has been customized to the extent that your vendor can help you, and all the people who knew how it worked has quit the company long ago. That virtualization project that ended up costing more than 5 times initial estimates, and not delivering the benefits promised. Yeah, all of those things where purchased and implemented by that guy. You know that guy.

You wonder, why hasn't he moved some things to better SaaS solutions? Why not migrate over to that cheaper, faster and more agile cloud solution? "Why, oh why can't my company be more innovative?", you ask. 

For as many questions that you have, there will be an equal amount of answers and explanations. And this is where opinions tend to part ways, and go in their own direction. "The vendor tricked us!" proclaim some, "the buyer didn't do their due diligence" say others. As easy as it is to point fingers, few people ever seem to dig deep enough to find the root cause. But before we get to the cause, let's talk about why this discussion even surfaces.

The disruptive new technology

Technology moves at an increasingly rapid pace. The second a new, and often superior, technology is released upon the world, many older systems automatically become yesterday's news. Without this ever evolving ecosystem of innovative technology, nothing would ever be obsolete. The yin and yang of IT. There can be no shadow without light.

The idea of a system or technology that never becomes obsolete, is laughable at best. And by the same line of thought, "best practice" is never more than a snapshot of ideas that make sense at the time. What I am trying to say is that the latest and greatest in technology, which in the case of cloud services also include things like service and pricing models, is always a temporal function.

This leads us to the logical conclusion, that all technology, and all business processes, including buying behavior, must be in constant flux to strive for excellence and innovation. At the same time, technology vendors have to adapt not only their offerings, but the way that they sell, market and provide those services as well.

The lifecycle of innovative technology

 We all know of that company, the company that was born out of a fantastic and innovative idea. The company was disruptive both technically, but many times from a business perspective as well. It's like the product is selling itself, that's how good it is!

I believe most successful IT vendors start this way.

In the beginning they're small, they're agile, innovative and responsive. As the need to grow their business arises, they hire a larger sales force. To penetrate the enterprise market, you need to have sales people. You need special enterprise sales to complement your inside and SMB sales reps. Because large enterprise is special; we all know that much. 

Your new and hot technology product still doesn't have the mindshare in the large enterprises. You aren't a "proven" solution. Customers demand reference cases, they want sales representatives to help them understand the solution. Because that's what they get from other vendors, so that becomes the norm.

There is a distinct difference between buying patterns of large enterprises, and smaller SMBs. Two separate standards imposed, even if unconsciously, on the vendor. So to play this game, you need to cater to your buyer. Your relationship seller based work force grows. The technology stagnates as your ever growing work force tries to keep up. The product becomes more stable, and features evolve slower, as time progresses. The enterprise customer's demand for supportability, stability and interoperability, all drive behavior that will slow down the pace of innovation.

Just a basic thing as the need to train employees on the new system will inherently drive and instigate behavior to slow down the pace of innovation.

What now?

"I get it, enterprise IT is slow, I get it. So what?", you say.
I am not going to become defeatist. I'm not going to become pessimistic (although I am Swedish, but don't hold that against me). I actually believe things are changing for the better. Buying behavior is improving, and sellers are adopting.

Cloud technologies has acted as a fantastic catalyst for many traditional enterprises to reevaluate their corporate IT strategy, and their cloud adoption plan. Technology is becoming so easy to procure, that the term "shadow IT" has even cropped up (meaning that business departments procure their own IT, without the approval, or knowledge, of the IT department). End user expectations are ever increasing, and IT departments are trying to become more agile to keep up with their own users!

This new reality, is also causing the selling behavior in various IT vendors to gradually change. Enterprise IT are starting to evaluate things themselves online, without the support of your traditional face to face seller. Many self-procure directly online without ever talking to a human being.

If you are a disruptive, and innovative, IT solutions provider, you need to adapt to your customers new buying behavior. Take a more consultative approach to your customers, and try to guide them towards a mindset that involves constant flux. Help them put a strategy in place on how to deal with, evaluate, and finally implement new technology as it becomes available. By helping your customer transition from a complacent IT procurement department, to an agile, fast moving, and innovative business enablement unit, you will become successful as long as your products are up for the challenge.

If you are a buyer of IT services, reevaluate how your interact with your vendors. Do you publish an RFI/RFP for what you think is best, ask some of the companies you think can reply to the RFI/RFP, and expect to be catered to? There are many companies that will gladly do things this way, but be aware that they are catering to your demands, which will inherently make you a laggard. Try to cultivate a relationship with vendors who take the consultative approach, and sincerely work in your best interest, even if that means losing the deal right in front of them.

What I am trying to say is that, both vendors and enterprise IT buyers should strive to move away from traditional buying patterns, and to facilitate a structure that helps them move closer to innovation and true business value. This behavior comes in many shapes and forms, and I truly believe that the next generation enterprise IT will need trusted advisors with their top tier vendors to help them create a strategy for adopting new technology, whether that be cognitive solutions or cloud platforms.

The important part isn't the technology itself, it is how you evaluate and buy it. If you are a seller, it is equally important to understand the shift that is currently happening, and cater to it. If your customer is the traditional complacent laggard we talked about in the introduction, it is your job to help them evolve. If you don't help them, somebody else will.

If you want to become an innovative enterprise IT organization, change the way you buy, by talking to innovative technology companies that will talk and sell to you in a consultative fashion.