Revenge of the Bricks

Are you one of those realistic IT managers, or CIO's who didn't swallow the hype and adopt a new ERP system? But you realize that your IT department has to embrace new technologies so your company remains competitive and survives. You're probably under regular pressure to make decisions on the direction and strategy of systems and applications. Every time your CEO travels, he reads about a new ERP package that is even better than the one he read about on his last trip. There is a new standard every day, and before you can really understand and evaluate one technology, another one pops up.

You have heard plenty of stories about those early ERP adopters who put themselves and their company through what has become known as "Conversion Trauma". The biggest mistake that was made by the early adopters was that they believed what they were told. Basically, they put their future and career up against the hype and media produced by the some vendors. They were told that in order to take full advantage of the latest technology they would have to completely retool the IT department.

What did this mean? It meant they had to throw away the business applications, legacy hardware, and foundational infrastructure that ran their company's business. No one stepped back to take a clear look at what this implied. After all, everyone else' was doing it, weren't they?

No matter which legacy hardware you are using, the software that runs on it has probably been around for many years. MANMAN^® from interBiz, for example, and which I use, is the result of millions of man-hours of development and fine tuning tailored software for the manufacturing industry.

Software evolves as a result of its use in real life production environments. This entails the vendor keeping in touch with industry, and providing new tools, platforms, and technology while reaping the benefits of the man-hours of experience in the industry itself.

And who is writing these new ERP systems? It's probably a group of highly educated, intelligent computer experts, fully trained in the latest and greatest technologies. But is that the only criteria required to write any kind of functional software application, let alone a sophisticated manufacturing system that supports a multimillion dollar business? Similar genius programmers worked on the legacy software that you are using today. However, with every release the software evolved and got closer and closer to real world usage.

Another consideration is the efficiency of these legacy systems. One can equate 'legacy' with being primitive and inefficient, however it is well known in the computer world that the more primitive an environment, then the more efficient it can be. Almost everyone thinks that the legacy systems are dying. I would not be surprised to find out that after these conversions, companies are still using these old legacy systems to accomplish the tasks that the latest technology available is not able to do yet.

Lets pause a moment and rethink our reasons for wanting to migrate to a new system. What are we gaining? What are we losing?

If you are looking at worldwide connectivity, e-Business, and m-Commerce for your company, then consider what these terms mean. They are really just other ways to communicate with your customers and vendors, while staying competitive in today's market place. Upgrading the system for global connectivity between businesses and consumers is absolutely necessary. Throwing out all the experience and expertise that your legacy system has is not.

To stay competitive, put the emphasis on connectivity and communication, rather than completely retooling the IT department, or uprooting the backbone systems where your business logic resides and re-training your business staff.

What I am saying, in a nutshell, is this: there is no need to discard the system you have to take advantage of the technology advances that your company needs. Leverage your existing enterprise system (people, processes, programs, etc...) by seamlessly integrating functionality to support the achievement of your business goals.