Source:
http://www.ciber.com/blog/article.cfm?articleid=20090811121602
Business Architecture: Aligning technology to your situationW. Thomas Hamlin, Principal Consultant : 17 August 2009 / 10:32 AM : 0
On occasion consultants are brought in to an engagement wherethe client already knows the answer. This is a case of finding amessenger to shoot while the client retains their job. Sometimesconsultants are accused of using a client’s watch to tell them whattime it is. The real value of bring in consultants is to learnsomething new about your organization or to acquire some new skill orinsight. The right consultants can bring a different perspective to anorganization struggling against external market or regulatorypressures. But watch out for the consultant that offers a "one sizefits all" prepackaged (read single source technology) solution. Thisconsultant has a "solution in search of a problem".
The one size fits all prepackaged solution sales materialstypically offer "black box" or cloud models. Everything is fixedwithin a new technology or vendor offering represented by the black boxor cloud. You have seen these models everywhere. The first time Iever saw this portrayed was in the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulled backthe curtain to expose the "wizard".
So what is the Businessman supposed to do? How can theydetermine if a particular technology or vendor solution will truly helptheir situation? Well, I may begin to sound like a broken record, butunless the Businessman understands the building blocks of theirenterprise they will never be able to clearly articulate their issuesin relation to their challenges. They will never be able to explain toIT what it is they need to do! For example, if a business (enterprise)wishes to grow in a highly competitive market, how do they marshaltheir internal resources if they don’t know what and where theirresources are? Or how their processes align and integrate with eachother? Sometimes with staff reductions and "doing more with less"efforts, a previously "well oiled machine" falls apart from a lack ofunderstanding. Delegating authority and responsibility to an emptychair is fruitless.
At times like this, I find making lists to be very helpful. Start with lists of important things to the business. What is yourbusiness vision? What are your goals and objectives? How will youmeasure success? What departments do you have to do the work? Whatinformation is critical to your business processes? Are their criticalbusiness events that must never be missed? Does geography impact yoursituation?
The next step is a big one. How do the important businessthings relate to each other? At this point a consultant can be of greathelp if they understand that their challenge is not to recommend a"silver bullet" technology or one size fits all solution but tounderstand the context, environment, and the interrelationships inwhich the client’s business is operating. This is a different skillset that the client usually does not have.
The next major concept is to make the situation asunderstandable as possible. In these situations, visual models arevery important. Your consultant should have standardized templates withicons to represent important business topics. I would certainly avoidmodels that contain everything including the kitchen sink in them. Business Modeling (Architecture) is a different skill set. I wouldrequest a consultant with an established method, experienced inbusiness, and who does not immediately drift to “techno-babble”. Youneed an honest broker who will offer a vendor neutral opinion aboutyour situation, not a technical sales pitch.
If this sounds like your situation, I would call my CIBER SalesExecutive today before you get to work and request an appointment totalk about how Business Architecture can help support your businessdecisions.
‘Til next time,
Thomas |
发表于 2009-8-18 22:34:12
