Indeed, the common theme of these vignettes turns out to be a problem throughout enterprise computing. Organizations in general—and IT in particular—are underachievers in extracting full value from the systems they acquire and deploy. They’re too satisfied with initial success. For confirmation, you have to look only as far as your own desktop. The overwhelming majority of people use a fraction of the power and potential of, say, Microsoft Office or Google. Survey after survey reveals that managers typically use less than 15 percent of the functionality of PowerPoint or Excel. A recent IT survey by a Fortune 50 company showed that not even 10 percent of the employees over the age of 35 used the corporate e-mail filtering function.

How Vendors Discourage Experimentation

Now ask yourself, What portion of our "application backlogs" are a function not of unwritten code but of unused or undeployed software features and functionality that are simply unknown or untaught to users? My bet? At least half, probably more.

Why do I so confidently assert this? Because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Fifteen years ago, everyone in the industry joked about the unfulfilled promises of overhyped "vaporware." Today, there is not a major enterprise software package—or a desktop app (Web-based or not)—that doesn’t have far more features and functionality than 75 percent of its users need. Are there vendors who fail to deliver? Of course, and there always will be. But the reality is, for most organizations, a greater variety of "off-the-shelf" choices with more built-in functionality exists than ever before.

Yes, there will always be circumstances that require workarounds and custom-coding and special subroutines and so on. However, too many IT groups (and their internal customers) haven’t thought through how they can tap existing software portfolios to better meet business needs.

Now I’m the first to acknowledge that many vendors—you know who they are, they know who they are—have stupid, counterproductive licensing policies that discourage willing customers from getting greater value. Shame on them! But when you look at the rate of open-source evolution and how once-simple servers that handle transactions are becoming more multidimensional, savvy CIOs have to ask: How well do we really know what our software and systems are capable of doing if we’re really prepared to be clever about them? Are we adequately building on success?

CIOs need to audit the early wins and encourage people to use them as springboards. The implementation challenge shifts when we think less about reaching for something "new" to solve problems than rethinking how we should tap what we possess. Yes, many vendors do a lousy job of documenting or explaining their offerings. And sometimes it’s easier to look for another point solution to solve a new problem.