Articles and Advice
Don't Let Software Clunkers Eat Your IT Budget
- Posted by: Technology Staff Editor
- On: 07/21/2008 16:06:30
- In: Information Technology
That new software that was going to solve your company's big problems and make you look like a superstar to boot just doesn't work the way the vendor promised it would. Now what?
There you are, sitting in front of your computer, your new software system loaded and ready to go, your users' computers are similarly locked and loaded, and everything is in place. You were awed when the vendor first demonstrated the product -- he even came to your office with the tech team and spent two weeks installing the system and training your staff. All you, your staff, and your users have to do now is load the data and get going.
You're going to have a fine day!
But things start to go wrong the minute your team starts importing data from the old system. File formats aren't quite compatible but, brave soul that you are, you gather your techs together to hunt through the help files and user manuals and find a fix. You dodged that bullet, but then you and your team must go through field mapping to tell the new system what each field in the old system means, and then put the data in the right place. It takes the better part of a week and even then some of the match-ups aren't perfect. . . . So much for that business solution. And so much for that team celebration you were planning.
The next Friday morning you come in, all set to reproduce some of the key reports your management team likes to get every Monday. You're sure they'll be especially pleased because the new system has more powerful graphics and can present key performance indicators much more legibly than the old one could, and it seemed easy to do during the demos. But it quickly becomes apparent that the new reports will take a lot of work to produce.
Well, you can do it . . . or maybe someone else on the team can . . . or can they? By early afternoon on Friday, no one has been able to get the thing to do the calculations right, never mind produce the graphics you were going to be so proud of, and so you give up and produce the same old reports using the same old system.
They Shoot Software Clunkers, Don't They?
The software just doesn't work the way the vendor said it would. It doesn't do what you thought it would do. Now what?
"Well, if it's a major software product that cost tens of thousands of dollars, then you should have a major conversation with the person who sold it to you," says Alan S. Kay, VP of research management at San Mateo, Calif.-based Ventana Research. That conversation may or may not yield a satisfactory result. Most vendors will be unwilling to give you your money back, although David McCrabb who is now VP of business development at Saama Inc., a business intelligence systems integrator in Campbell, Calif., did get his money back a while back while at a different company. "We said the software needed to perform two critical tasks and they said that it would," he recalls, "but it wouldn't, and the vendor wound up refunding the license fees."
Kay adds, "Look, if you only paid $20 or $30 or even a few hundred dollars for it, you can just throw it away or foist it off on somebody else by selling it on eBay." In fact, shredding the disk might even give you a lot of satisfaction. The alternatives to a refund or a write-off may or may not be very attractive. For example, it might turn out that the vendor will now try to sell you consulting services that include creating the applications or reports you need. That could be expensive, and whether that is a satisfactory solution or not will be up to you.
But Kay and others had more important advice. "You shouldn't get into that position in the first place," says Kay. "You don't just go out and buy something; you need to evaluate the software in terms of its suitability to the task at hand." Kay suggests that you can search the Internet for other users of the product and find out what they think in product review forums. But, he warns, "If it turns out there aren't people who can report on having used the software in the ways that you're interested in, then you are going to be out on the bleeding edge, which is where no small business ought to be."
Hans Keller, CTO of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, who just completed a transition of his entire network of PCs from Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows Vista agrees. "We didn't just dive into Vista," he says. "We started looking at it in February of 2006, and didn't complete the implementation until the end of November."
The time and resources that you invest in the evaluation process might give you a clue about what to do. "You've usually invested a lot in the decision," says McCrabb, "and so you really have to determine if there isn't some value in the product despite your other disappointments with it." Santa Cruz County, Calif., IT systems analyst Gerry Doan, who supports a 500-person department, agrees and adds, "The truth is that you are not going to figure out that there is a problem until you've made an extraordinary investment, including installation, and by that time you own the product."
"You have to focus on what you can get out of the product," says McCrabb. And Doan adds, "If there is still a serious lack of functionality that an end user group needs, you just have to go out and find something else to add to the software mix."
Other factors will impact whether or not a system is satisfactory, and may also affect what you can do about it. Often you can't do anything because another person or group has bought the product. "It can become politically impossible to do anything but just grin and use the product," says Doan. "User groups sometimes buy a product that turns out to be unsatisfactory, and in other situations a product is bought for a wider group of users and does not fit everyone's needs, but everyone just has to use it."
Know Your Users' Limitations
And Heller says that it's not just technical issues that can make software unsuitable for your environment, especially when many people will be using the system. "Everything we evaluate," he says, "we do in an environment where we can poke it, prod it, take it apart and put it back together to make sure that it works in our culture as well as in our business environment." As an example of how things can go wrong, he cites a complex capital project purchasing system his team implemented, but later had to scale back. "We had to back off not because it didn't work, but because it didn't fit our culture as well as we wanted it to," he says.
That means that you need to evaluate your users as well as the software you are about to purchase. "Something that appears to be the right thing technically may be wrong because your users aren't ready for it," says Keller, adding, "Any technology can look great, but if users don't use it, it's irrelevant."
So, while your best course of action is to do the footwork and research before you buy the product, remember that it is not be a perfect process. "Look, no matter how wise you are in your decision-making process," McCrabb says, "you're going to make mistakes, and you're going to have to figure out how to deal with them in the best and fairest possible way."
How Did I Get Here?
- Posted by: Deborah Brown-Volkman
- On: 07/12/2008 11:16:33
- In: Business Professional
Are you happy with your present situation? If yes, good for you. If not, what needs to be changed?
You have more control over the direction of your career than you think. And, you can alter the course of your career no matter where you are, what you are doing, or how many bills you have to pay. Once you decide that you want your path to be different, and you choose to do something about it, you can begin taking steps in that direction.
So, How Do You Get Yourself Moving In A Different Direction? Follow These Three Steps Below:
1. You Create a Vision
All of life’s journeys begin with the phrase, “I want.” Think about your career and the times when you said “I want.” Maybe you said “I want” to go to college—and then enrolled in school and completed your degree. Maybe you said “I want” to work for a large or a small company—and you are working there now. Maybe you said “I want” to lead teams—and today, you are a leader. “I want” is a very powerful phrase. Without it, it’s hard to go very far.
Imagine going on a trip without selecting a destination beforehand. What would you pack? How would you get there? Where would you stay? Your trip probably would not end up being much fun.
It’s the same with your career. Not being able to visualize your desired result leads to results that don’t happen. Goals are reached when you decide what you want, and then take action to get it. Without an end in mind, you will wander aimlessly; and as long as you are aimless, you will be wasting time. You will feel lost. You will be like a stray leaf, going wherever the wind takes you. If your goal is a new and focused path for your career, then it is important to create a picture in your mind of what this will look like.
2. You Overcome Fear
What is fear? Fear is an emotion experienced in anticipation of a specific pain or danger. Simply put, when you fear the worst, you stay stuck and you don’t take action. Fear is normal. We all feel fear at certain points in our lives. But when fear prevents you from being happy in your career, then it's time to get fear out of the way. You won’t wake up one day and not be afraid anymore. Your fear won’t suddenly disappear on its own. It’s going to take work. Still, you can have what you want; you’ll just have to go after it while being afraid. Dealing with fear head on usually dilutes the strong hold that keeps fear alive. As scary as this may seem, facing your fears is the secret to getting past them.
3. You Update Your Skills
As the workplace changes, so does your need to change with it. Where is your industry going? Where is your company going? Are you prepared to go with it? Learning can be fun and inspiring. A course here and there could increase both your ability and confidence level. Learning something new keeps inspiration and passion alive. When you are working towards something different, you have focus, direction, and a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!
Deborah Brown-Volkman is the President of Surpass Your Dreams, Inc. a successful career, life, and mentor coaching company that works with Senior Executives,
Vice Presidents and Managers who are looking for new career opportunities or seek to become more productive in their current role. She is the author of “Coach Yourself to a New Career” and “How to Feel Great at Work Everyday.”
For Your Resume Success, Think Like a Professional Writer
- Posted by: Heather Eagar
- On: 06/24/2008 09:49:59
- In: Job Seeker - Resume
Stop the madness! Make sure your resume speaks volumes about what you have done in the past in a way that conveys you can accomplish that – and even more – for your future employer. There are tons of candidates who may have the same skill-set, but what you do with that knowledge makes all the difference in the world.
If you’ve been working on your resume for what seems like forever, it’s time to step away for a bit. When you work on anything for too long of a period, you become ‘blind’ to its imperfections and your ideas become stale. Harsh, but true. Acknowledge your limitations.
Even if you’re a talented writer, your resume can pose a challenge. That’s why there are so many professional writing services in business today. So if you really want to create your resume yourself, think like a professional.
•Ask yourself the hard questions. This can be the most difficult part in writing your own resume. You have to dig really deep and brainstorm about your past accomplishments. Think not only about the obvious ones that you remember automatically; consider what may not have been huge in your eyes but had positive repercussions.
•Add numbers to add punch. You’ve heard it a hundred times but it still holds true. The more you quantify your achievements the more impact it has on an employer. Include percentages, dollar amounts, anything that will make the reader stop and really read about your accomplishment.
Also, if you accomplished something within a certain amount of time, that can also be useful. Stating that you decreased backorders by 75% in 3 months is a lot more impressive than accomplishing it in 12 months, don’t you agree?
•If you get stuck, take a different approach. Professional writers can’t just quit and not complete a client’s resume if they hit a roadblock. They have to find another way to extract the information.
One way you can do this is by going over old performance reviews. Some employers may offer you a copy and others may not. Attempt to get a copy from the Human Resources Department, if you don’t already have one. You may have forgotten about an achievement that meant big changes or improvements for the company.
Writing your resume is no walk in the park. However, if you look at your work experience and achievements objectively and have plenty of patience and determination, you really can write a resume to impress.
Too Old To Fail Again
- Posted by: Arthur Levine
- On: 06/09/2008 20:55:49
- In: Post Retirement
That is why, I CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL. Did you hear me? At my age failing again simply isn’t an option. I might not get another chance. It was okay when I was a youngster to screw up once in a while. It showed my human side, but now that I am more prophet than human, it isn’t so cute any more when I mess up. I repeat; I cannot afford to fail. The consequences are too frightful to contemplate. I could end up going to the other place instead of Heaven. I don’t want that. I have made too big a contribution to society to deserve that fate.
I tried adding up all the good things I have done the other day in case I am called upon to meet my Maker in what would hopefully be the first of many interactions. Of course I have always been God’s messenger, but this time I am afraid it might be me who is given the ‘word’. Sadly, the list of good deeds wasn’t as long as I had imagined?
What has me worried is that I am about to embark on a new project to get Hollywood to stop their sinning ways. You know my predilection for beautiful women. I am afraid I might be tempted and be unfaithful to my darling wife Sarhara. Oh, the scandal. I couldn’t take the public shame. And what would happen if my beautiful twin girl baby prophets read about my indiscretions in the newspapers. It would be too much for me to bear to see how unhappy I had made my beautiful little Darling and Delicious. It would probably ruin their political futures if they are ever to have them. But what can I do? I can’t control myself. I am a weak and craven sinner. Oh woe is me, is there no hope for me? Where is my salvation?
I went on like this for what seemed like an eternity - maybe it was, until I got the bright idea to tell my wife Sarhara of my problem. Believe it or not she decided to come with me to Hollywood and never leave my side. I don’t know if I really like this solution or not, but what choice do I have?
After thinking about it I decided that I really had no choice. I was seeking redemption, and I needed my wife’s help to find it. What about you? Are you seeking redemption? Are you getting too old to fail again? Be of good cheer. The road to salvation may very well lie in opening up to and trusting your loved ones. Don’t be afraid if your list of good deeds isn’t as long as you imagined it was. Good things come to those who believe and have faith. I don’t know how long any of us has, but let’s make the most of it. Maybe if we try really hard, the best is yet to come. Let’s find out before we get too old to enjoy it.
Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box.
© Arthur Levine 2007
