Interview with Dean Lane – Author CIO Wisdom (Prentice Hall) and Leading CIO

Neochange sat down with Dean Lane, leading CIO and author of CIO Wisdom(Prentice Hall) to discuss the state of the software industry and why usage is now becoming a critical pinnacle of success.

The Software industry is experiencing Seismic changes right now. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry for the immediate future?
The biggest challenge for the IT Industry remains delivering value for the dollar.  What makes this more complicated on a go-forward basis is that there is no “Next Killer App”.    Although, we do have people developing technology in search of a solution.  So, the challenge becomes how to derive value from systems that are already matured.  This is not something that neither IT nor functional users can do alone.  It will require a true partnership (and not the stereotypical “partnership” defined in most writings).

At Software 2006 a few weeks ago Ray Lane, Kleiner Perkins, mentioned that the industry has been too focused on the Buyers rather than the Users, do you agree and why?
Ray has tremendous insight because of having been a part of McKinsey, Oracle and other companies.  He has hit the nail on the head and somewhat explains the popularity of Open Source programs.  To the extent that one can get the end user of a product to engage and, in fact, be productive with a product, the value of having that product increases.  The industry, playing to the Buyers rather than the Users have been in the wrong stadium.  Focus groups and other feedback mechanisms as input to the product’s future is essential.

A recent industry study found that 50% of paid for functionality and licenses in enterprises aren’t being used. Does that surprise you?
This does not surprise me, for the following reason.  Utilization is driven by acceptance.  A lesser amount of acceptance translates into less utilization.  Normally what happens is that this situation remains in a state of not being addressed.  The organization moves on to the next project and the cycle repeats.  To increase the utilization, acceptance must be increased.

From your perspective how are CIO’s addressing the challenge of usage. Are they taking responsibility for it or are they transferring it to their vendors?
Some CIOs have addressed this issue head on, while others address it head down …in the sand.  Finally, some CIOs don’t even recognize the issue as a problem.  With this wide array of situations, I can only outline the best course of action.  The Business Relationship Managers (and I define that to be everyone from deskside support to Business Analysts need to be listening to end users and determining what must be done to have them, the end user, accept existing software and systems.  If that can not be accomplished, then a more dramatic step of replacement may come into play.  It does not matter whether the issue is kept in house or transferred to a vendor – if the issue is not addressed.

What’s your definition of a successful IT implementation?
I define a successful “IT” implementation as some infrastructure project that increases the stability/reliability or speed of a system.  I am fairly certain that the question was looking for an answer that included the end user and to that extent, a successful implementation is one that accomplishes the goal of increasing revenue or decreasing cost, or both.  This can only happen when implemented systems improve the productivity of end users and processes.  And, in order for that to occur, the end users must adopt these improvements and make them work.

What are the biggest mistakes clients are making with regards to extracting value from their IT investments?
There never seems to be enough time to do it right the first time, but always enough time to do it over.  Pressure by the business unit and acceptance, or succumbing to that pressure, by the IT community results in unrealistic expectations.  Then corners must be cut and short cuts taken to deliver to an unrealistic expectation.  The end user community becomes frustrated, as does IT, and the return on the effort is lessened significantly because the adoption rate is low.  And the adoption rate is low because the system was over promised and under delivered.

As you have been a CIO on many occasions, how would you address these mistakes?
Enlightening executives, educating management and communicating with end users is the key to setting realistic expectations that can be met.  Everyone (Executives, Management, IT and the internal customers) must act as a single, unified, team.  No one party can win at the expense of another.  If one wins or benefits, so must they all.

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NeoBlog is launched at www.neochange.blogs.com

Neochange recently launched into the blogasphere at its website.

The first series of entries which ran through April covered “The Underutilization of Technology and how a focus on Effective User Adoption™ is the Key to Benefits Realization”

The second series of entries which run throughout the month of May will cover opinions on “Why the IT Eco-System Should be Interested in Effective User Adoption™ as a Critical Measure of IT Value”

Link to the Neoblog and join in the discussion.

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