A satisfying relationship between IT and line of business is maintained through ongoing dialogue that is meaningful to both parties. The discipline of "Conversations for Alignment," a title for a simple technique for making and managing commitments, enables such a dialogue. My consulting group and I have done a good deal of research into what makes a strong supplier/customer relationship. The bottom line is trust. However, trust needs to be earned through a series of conversations and commitments that have been met. Buyers tell us they want to be informed, understood, supported, and respected. Suppliers tell us they want the opportunity to assess the value of their offerings to prospective applications, to be treated fairly, and to have the opportunity to make good on commitments.
Note: This note first appeared in a column by James F. Dowling in Mid-Range Computing. Look for other previously published Mid-Range Computing columns by Mr. Dowling at this site or visit Midrange Showcase at www.midrangecomputing.com/showcase/.
If both parties know what they want and if the needs are well aligned, what causes supplier/customer relationship breakdowns? It is that perennial scapegoat named communications. One case study reveals many of the root cause factors. Following is the "Reader's Digest" version.
A financial analyst wanted a file server but knew that the IT architecture disallowed personal servers in favor of workgroup servers (he had been refused before when he requested one in response to frequent disk space outages). He therefore designed a creative way of reducing the corporation's tax liability using a large database, a collection of spreadsheet programs, a data extraction tool, and a file server. The internal rate of return was computed to be more than 500 percent. Hours after submitting his request, the financial analyst was visited by a consultant who had been charged with performing due diligence on the request and guiding the client and IT to a knowledge-based solution selection.
As the consultant asked more questions about the tax issue and the algorithms, the mantra of "500 percent ROI" came frequently. The consultant left the meeting with a clear set of requirements (for the wrong solution). The financial analyst took immediate steps to emphasize the fact that the company was losing money while IT action was slow.
The consultant made a connection between this analyst's solution and a similar situation in two other divisions, and recommended an add-on package to the company's financial administrative system to solve both problems-albeit at a somewhat higher cost and with significantly less complexity. He also recommended that additional data be propagated to the financial analyst's datamart and that his workgroup server be upgraded to provide enough disk space to support the tax computations in the interim. Both parties got more work than they bargained for and the company got a superior solution.
Note: This note first appeared in a column by James F. Dowling in Mid-Range Computing. Look for other previously published Mid-Range Computing columns by Mr. Dowling at this site or visit Midrange Showcase at www.midrangecomputing.com/showcase/.
If both parties know what they want and if the needs are well aligned, what causes supplier/customer relationship breakdowns? It is that perennial scapegoat named communications. One case study reveals many of the root cause factors. Following is the "Reader's Digest" version.
A financial analyst wanted a file server but knew that the IT architecture disallowed personal servers in favor of workgroup servers (he had been refused before when he requested one in response to frequent disk space outages). He therefore designed a creative way of reducing the corporation's tax liability using a large database, a collection of spreadsheet programs, a data extraction tool, and a file server. The internal rate of return was computed to be more than 500 percent. Hours after submitting his request, the financial analyst was visited by a consultant who had been charged with performing due diligence on the request and guiding the client and IT to a knowledge-based solution selection.
As the consultant asked more questions about the tax issue and the algorithms, the mantra of "500 percent ROI" came frequently. The consultant left the meeting with a clear set of requirements (for the wrong solution). The financial analyst took immediate steps to emphasize the fact that the company was losing money while IT action was slow.
The consultant made a connection between this analyst's solution and a similar situation in two other divisions, and recommended an add-on package to the company's financial administrative system to solve both problems-albeit at a somewhat higher cost and with significantly less complexity. He also recommended that additional data be propagated to the financial analyst's datamart and that his workgroup server be upgraded to provide enough disk space to support the tax computations in the interim. Both parties got more work than they bargained for and the company got a superior solution.
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