Want the shiny new thing? You may not need it.

We recently had a review of new products and vendors, and I was surprised by how frequently we persuaded our clients not to make any expensive purchases at all.

Many of our mid-market clients have systems integration or reporting problems, and the premise of our engagement is often that the CEO wants us to implement an expensive replacement. This is understandable: it’s tempting to assume the new shiny system you don’t yet have will be much better than the tarnished old one. The idea of course is encouraged by highly incentivised salespeople who organise impressive demos, offer you the universal panacea, and throw in the moon on a stick.

(For example, don’t sign off on a new ERP until you read this: Do you actually need a new ERP?)

But behind the scenes, many companies suffer from process or organisation issues, data management challenges, or a lack of training, policing, and control of users. There are often inconsistencies between departments in how they understand and track data and KPIs (or don’t), and confusion about the specific responsibilities of different teams and their managers. These issues may be exacerbated by poor infrastructure which can lead to outages or speed issues. There may be broken relationships with suppliers and frustration between individuals, creating a feeling that the only way to fix these problems is to start again with new tech.

So we do understand why a CEO might want a shiny new thing. However, unless you clear the underlying obstacles, a new system will simply meet the same blockages. Why do so many large transformation projects fail? Because the project crashes into these hard-to-solve issues, often related to people and how they work.

Conversely, if we fix these problems first—clarify processes and clean up the data, for example, or automate time-consuming workarounds—then we may be able to get existing systems working well with relatively minor expenditure.

Effective systems come about when well-organised people, processes, and technology are backed by effective suppliers and driven by good leaders. Freeman Clarke CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs repeatedly help mid-market businesses run better without resorting to expensive new systems—or help put one smoothly in place, without drama, when needed.

If you want to know more about how we help clients get all the pieces of the jigsaw together—or if you’d like an objective second opinion about your IT and technology—then please get in touch.