This is going to bug some people…but I have seen this enough times over the years to know that it is true more often than not.

The fact of the matter is that the motivation of the IT department during a software evaluation is different than the CEO owner…owners want to make money, increase market share, and win. They view technology as a means to an end…it’s a tool. And there a lot of tools out there…thus the need to evaluate them.

In many cases, this job is given to the IT department of an organization.

What is the worse thing that can happen during all of this?…Answer: all the things that an owner fears. You spend a lot of money and you don’t increase market share, you don’t make incrementally more money, and you don’t win. Or worse, your company comes to a grinding halt because you can’t issue customer reports, process transactions, or track marketing efforts.

So what you have are competing forces and competing fears. One coming from the standpoint of employer/owner, and the other coming from an employee.

If the software evaluation and/or implementation goes bad…whose ass is on the line? Yep. You know and he knows it.

The sub-conscious agenda that begins to happen is that the employee who is toting the load of the software project is looking for the best, but safest, choice. They will look at revenue, number of employees, maybe price…but they probably not looking at it from the owner’s eye of increasing market share – in other words, from a business perspective.

Of the two parties in this ‘transaction’…who is most at fault?

Wrong.

It’s the owner/CEO.

And it gets back to his fears…his fear of technology and the inclination to abdicate on all matters related to technology…to a person or committee that is coming from a different place. The owner/CEO has the mandate of communicating the purpose of the software eval…and has the responsibility of either learning an evaluation/implementation methodology himself, or insuring that the project team is sufficiently educated on the process.

This missive is a continuation of my series on the role that fear plays in the software evaluation and implementation process. Today I am going to continue my examination of business owners and CEOs…and their unstated fears in all of this. What does the fear of making the wrong decision equate to? You guessed it – paralysis. The owner with the fears (and by the way it is not an irrational fear – for many companies this is the largest capital expenditure that will be making in a long time…should give you a tad to think about…) will often get seduced into study after study – either using his own staff’s time or worse, paying an outsider for it. I have clients who have spent 5 years doing this….I know because they have hired my firm to handle the implementation…and they tell me. With an eye roll and the shake of a head. This all boils down to being overly careful…because they don’t have an evaluation methodology that they trust, or because they don’t trust their staff. There are 3 ways to look at these processes:

1. Ready, aim, fire (ideal)
2. Fire (not so good)
3. Ready, ready, ready, ready….(paralysis – fear of making the wrong decision)
    

If you see yourself in any of this…there are some easy steps to move your software train down the road.

About 10 years ago I had a client in the Heartland who engaged my firm to perform a host of consulting services over a 3 year period.

We did a LOT of work for them…had consultants out there all the time. 

One day I was having lunch with the CEO…the guy who was pushing all the technology on the company, and his employees.  I asked him what his strategy was behind all the projects he had us working on. 

His answer was, “I don’t want us to be left behind…to not be able to compete with the other management firms.” 

Back then I was kind of impressed with his answer…most CEOs I had dealt with could give a rat’s #%* about software and technology.  My guy was different.

But in perspective, I think his intentions were good but his reasons were wrong and ultimately harmful. 

One, he didn’t take into account that having multiple technology projects going on simultaneously was burning his people out.  He did have turnover…which had a much larger effect on his ability to compete than having newer software.

Two, he didn’t have any proof that his competition was gaining a leg up…and was able to sign more customers as a result of this.  He just had a sense this was happening. 

Three, he burned through a bunch of cash – some of it went in my pocket and the rest to software vendors.  He never did a financial analysis on the expenditures…and estimated what new business the enhancements would bring.  Never.

It is now 10 years later…he is still on those systems from the mid-to-late 90s.  He may actually now need to start an analysis of his technology…I suspect he is a little gun-shy after what we all went through. 

You should know that you don’t have to be on the latest and greatest version of a software package…in fact I could give you many reasons to do so.  When is it time to move up – when you can prove tangibly that you are losing market share and/or customers as a result of your technology or software.  Period.

Last week I told you about my 12-part series on how fear plays a role in when evaluating or implementing software.

I am going to start out this week by focusing on business owners and CEOs…not all of these attributes apply to every business owner…but I’ve seen them enough to put my neck out on the line.

The first fear factor is the Fear of Technology.

Some business owners are terrified of the ever-changing technology (and I’ve seen others who embrace it effortlessly…). This fear causes several things to happen:

1. They don’t know if the new technology is even necessary. No ROI calculations are done.
2. They abdicate responsibility for the project…note that is different than delegation.
   

The task should be delegated…the problem comes in with the abdication. The project is often times the largest capital expenditure that a company will have for a given year….possible years. It is not prudent for the CEO/owner to wipe their hands of this just because it is software – cash is cash. Doesn’t make sense. The wise owner is also going to recognize that the person who receives the project may have a whole other set of fears (and agendas) than his. And the really wise owner is going to recognize that their system is really their Invisible Employee™. More on this concept in the coming days, weeks, months, and years….