HOW Will We Do That?

At the heart of the way you think and operate are your information systems and processes.  The key issue for most CIOs and executive teams is to imagine the “Systems Model” that can enable this 21st century “And/And”  “Business Model”.  Unfortunately, this is where the Blind Spot becomes most apparent and daunting.  It is easier to envision a new Business Model than it is to implement a new Systems Model.  A new information systems model requires time, talent, investment and understanding the art and science of the possible.  The reason that this is so daunting to companies that have been successful during the last millennium are their decades of embedded legacy systems and processes.  Most were built over the last five decades to support a functional or decentralized model on technology that evolved from mainframes to minicomputers, to PC/LANs, to the Web, to Mobile, etc.

Unfortunately, they are still embedded in their infrastructure, operations, metrics and culture.  This creates a barrier of rigid silos, large capital investments, years of work, risk, etc.  The problem is most companies don’t have the time, the money, the talent or the “risk tolerance” to approach wide scale systems replacement.  The best and most proven approach, in my experience, is to envision the end game system, design big, but implement in small components.  Much like you’d renew a city.  The best place to start might be to build a “core integration platform ” that is more “in motion/in the moment”  to enable customers, suppliers and employees to leverage many of the existing legacy systems while operating more seamlessly across functions, geographies and operating divisions.   This will accelerate rationalization,  effort and business value in a 1-3 year window while you continue with the longer, more expensive replacement over a 5-10 year horizon.