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CM Journal Articles Mature in America?
CM Journal Articles Mature in America?
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Where are we Now? Within the workplace, IT has gone from a black box in the basement to a grey box on a shelf upstairs. The business side knows they can use software development to maintain competitive advantage and react flexibly to the marketplace but, generally, they still don’t view it as a core member of the team. That, of course, leaves IT vulnerable to being outsourced. Like any aspect of business, we are a means to an end that must continually justify its cost effectiveness. Regardless of IPO prices or market indices, I believe the hay day of IT in the United States has reached maturity in the business lifecycle. We may continue to lead technologically with research and development, but as more countries are coming on line with an educated workforce, we are forced to recognize that they too are smart. And they have the hunger. The boom in Asia will likely last long enough to eclipse our dominance in the market. Particularly, as businesses grow, smaller companies are being consumed by larger ones looking to reduce redundant functions to realize cost savings. As they reach across borders, that cost savings is likely to mean centralized development in the most viable location where benefits and salaries garner less of the budget. We may complain about language difficulties and quality issues, but I suspect these are merely the growing pains associated with our changes. The market forces will certainly resolve them on their own. The major impediment will be intellectual property rights. What companies negotiate and how nations respect IP will heavily affect the speed at which this trend accelerates. Within CM specifically, we are managing tools, processes, and CIs. We’re facilitating communication and ensuring integrity. We’re often coordinating with multiple suppliers and production implementers. This basic skill set is viable both now and in the future. But we need to understand what that future will look like. Where is Business Heading? IT overall, and software in particular, are still in their infancy in my opinion. We really haven’t scratched the surface of what can be done. Much of what we currently do still falls under the guise of automation. We replace bank tellers with online account access. We use databases to relate customers, inventory, and suppliers. Comparatively, that’s designing a better buggy whip knowing aircraft are on the horizon. There is so much more we can do with technology yet to be developed. These systemic changes will alter how communities develop, people communicate across countries and borders, and how we get the information that our individual world perspectives are built on. Remember that most of the innovations of telecommunications, transportation, and commerce are less than 100 years old. The “new” technology is like the oversized paws of a puppy society is still learning to run with. The trend toward high levels of integration will be based on the same standard on which supermarkets are based. Where can I get the most with the greatest convenience for a reasonable price? While business likes to believe it’s zealous in its accounting for money, we all know money flies out the door for consultants and other forms of conveniences. IT will follow this trend. Server farms, software development, and help desks are already showing it. As stated before, the downsides and problems in doing this will be resolved by the market forces driving us toward that end. As CM, we thrive in the vanguard of that effort. While we in the industry operate at a different technical level than the bulk of the world, we can expect to see fundamental changes in the conduct of commerce, government, and daily life that will impact every citizen. Leaving aside philosophical implications, we need to adjust to suit this new reality. Opportunities Within CM, I believe there are three roads before us. For many years, there will be software shops doing business with evolutionary tools and some limited group of us can continue in this track, though at salaries competitive with the world market. Another group of us will become more specialized in supplier management doing CI control, managing communications with vendors, and becoming integral to subcontractor negotiations. The third group, comprised of people too comfortable or close to retirement to change, will likely feel the push to change careers as employment opportunities dwindle. Of course, nothing will happen overnight but now is the time to begin retooling. Most of us have 20-40 years of career left which is more than enough time for the world to change, several times. The second group is where I believe the greatest growth and stability is. While I’m loathe to do it myself, one could probably make a very comfortable living with an IT background and a law degree. But without going as far as that, CMs would certainly do well to take some classes in communication and legal contracts. This group will need to focus on integrating external modules or gear itself from S/W development CM toward production implementation. Since testing resources are also being outsourced too we can use our issue/defect tracking expertise to focus on the communication issues between the client and the vendor. There are two more external forces which I believe will impact CM more and more: Sarbanes-Oxley and litigation. The SOX laws I won’t get into except to say that many of us are still figuring out how it really impacts us and what processes and documentation are most appropriate to satisfy its requirements. The second is more dynamic and uncertain. As more and more competitive advantage becomes based on technology, there will be inevitable failures and finger-pointing. Particularly as human beings are hurt by machines run on software, this litigation will accelerate. We all know the holes in process that a good lawyer would have a field day with in court. I believe that system testing and CM will be the primary beneficiaries in this, other than the lawyers. It may only push the priority up to a ‘necessary evil’ but it should improve our ability to put solid process in place and safeguard the deliverables. Conclusion While my assessment of the future of IT in America may not be so rosy, I do believe there is a place for us and ways for us to continue even if it’s a slightly altered state. Political and economic policies will certainly have much greater impact on our work than in the past. This is a change we can manage if we are objective enough to view it properly and prepare appropriately. While we are the CI's, we can choose our own path to production. Best of luck to all of us. Randy Wagner is a Contributing Editor for CM Crossroads and VP of Technology Development with Taylor Bean & Whitaker in Ocala FL. His experience ranges from major financial institutions to multimedia multinationals to the Federal government. Working in small to large project efforts has given him a unique perspective on balancing the discipline of SCM and enterprise change management with the resources and willpower each organization brings to the table. You can reach Randy by email at SR_71_98@yahoo.com.
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 05 August 2007 16:04 |
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