IT buyers must focus on function

During a discussion the other day I was reminded about how much control the big players in the IT market really have. I was talking about a company that specialised in business process management systems. I use the past tense with good reason as it decided enough was enough a few months back.

The firm folded up its operation and disappeared into the sunset. Its heinous crime was to invent a process management system that didn’t require middleware. Unlike everyone else (at least to my knowledge) it had circumvented middleware completely, reducing the complexity of the total system.

The reason it failed to make an impression in the market was that every prospective customer failed to understand why middleware wasn’t needed. All the major IT providers either supply or work with middleware. The new offer-ing raised the question of why large investments in middleware are necessary. And if one system could work outside of the “standard” architecture then others might also be able to.

Be that as it may, the really frightening thought is that IT professionals couldn’t evaluate technology on its merit. They preferred to look at the old architectural model as the only viable option. But it’s not just the professionals who trip up. I recently read a report on the dominance of the iPod in MP3 music.

It is clearly a demonstration of marketing form over technical functionality. From its inception the iPod has had trouble with batteries – there were many complaints about dead batteries and long waits to have them changed. Not that this appears to have deterred people from buying iPods – they fail to see past the nifty design and the “street cred” of owning the latest must-have technology.

My MP3 player isn’t smart or stylish, but it has some advantages. Halfway across the Atlantic when iPods are dying all I do is change the batteries in mine (it takes standard rechargeable AA size batteries). When I’m driving and want to access a particular file, I don’t have to take my eyes off the road as it has a voice function that reads the file names to me. So it may be unfashionable, but it is highly functional.

The world of personal music is not that far away from enterprise-class technology as might at first appear. All too often purchasing decisions are based on form rather than functionality. It would be nice to assume that the market leaders achieve their status by having the “best” product in terms of functionality. The reality is different. Marketing makes markets. The backing of major players makes markets. Fitting in with the latest style makes markets. All too rarely does good technology make the market.

Perhaps IT professionals should be made to justify their purchasing decisions without falling back on the excuse that “everyone else has one”. I shall call that the iPod defence.

‹ martin.butler@butlergroup.com