Realizing the True Value of Your Software Applications
But if we’ve already learned to run a package that cost-effectively delivers the goods, why not build on it if the price is right? Building on the right experiences is better economics than acquiring novelties that will inevitably pose their own unique challenges anyway.
Sitting in that airless room with a genuinely committed vendor and genuinely committed customers reinforced a simple but hard-won truth: Build on what works, and treat early success as an invitation to innovate—not as a sign that the problem has been solved. Vendors need to push their sales and support people to explain how usage can evolve over time, not just how best to solve the problem du jour. And CIOs need to do a better job of reaching out to their business units and working with them to help identify the features and functionality they need, and then unlock those features from the software they already own or lease.
The true test of our stewardship is not just how well software is used but whether we’re getting the full value that we should. That’s not just a technology leadership test; it’s a business leadership challenge.
