Making sense of IT

Oracle SA`s new MD Nicky Sheridan says business is common sense and now it seems, at last, IT is beginning to subscribe to the same principles as an increasing number of industry players step up efforts to standardise.

Standardisation is finally finding its way onto the agendas of IT solution vendors across the industry, including companies touting solutions for business intelligence, database storage, enterprise resource planning, office productivity, and many more.

Standards enable interoperability and therefore provide choice, foster healthy competition, reduce costs, and expand development opportunities for independent software vendors as well as opportunities for other forms of collaboration between organisations.

Adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, particularly in global supply chains, is completely reliant on standardisation. Without collaboration within supply chains, the business case for RFID will never be made, preventing this technology from delivering on the considerable promise it appears to hold in terms of improving supply chain efficiency through greater visibility.

If there are so many benefits to standardisation, why has the IT industry taken so long to make this move?

Is CSI just a new age form of marketing at best or at worst a new strategy for locking up government business in return for favours rendered?

Warwick Ashford, portals managing editor

The most likely explanation is that standardisation is of much more benefit to consumers of technology than producers. Vendors have tended to avoid standardisation as part of a strategy to win customers through attractive technology solutions, but then lock them in through proprietary solutions.

An increasingly common theme in discussions around technology these days is that of IT as a business enabler, a phenomenon that has seen a shift of power from technology developers to consumers as business begins to play a greater role in guiding IT investments.

The result of this shift of power and move towards open standards in response to market pressure for greater value from IT investments is also beginning to have the effect of forcing technology vendors to find new ways of securing a share of the market.

Some of these effects are less positive than others. While some IT vendors have become more customer-centric in their approach, others have sought to engage what is often the biggest business in any market, namely government. Whether it is at a national, regional or local level, big vendors in particular are doing all they can to win government contracts.

Aligning with government objectives is perhaps one of the most common strategies in SA at present. To adopt a cynical view, one could say many corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives are just as much if not more of an investment in the company`s future as in social development.

Is CSI just a new age form of marketing at best or at worst a new strategy for locking up government business in return for favours rendered?

Without pointing fingers, when any organisation that exists for no other reason really than to make money begins talking in terms of its commitment to the national social transformation agenda, one can`t help feeling a little sceptical.

What business organisation makes any large investment without expecting some kind of return?

While the IT industry appears to be getting real about exactly what it has to do to win and retain market share, IT consumers need to get real about the motives behind vendors` new approaches to the market.

With pure technology playing a diminishing role as a differentiator, hopefully government and other IT consumers will begin recognising moves towards standardisation, social investment and customer focus for what they really are: new age strategies for attracting business.

While standardisation and accountability are good things, we should never lose sight of the fact that technology vendors are in business to make money, so now more than ever, common business sense should be the over-riding factor guiding any IT investment.