It seems there are some Business Analysts going around using
leftist-like tactics to enchant businesses into believing that to survive in
the present-day business they need an IT department of their own to run all their
information related operations for them which, of course, they then offer themselves
up to do the job. Got to ask yourself why does a retail store that sells Vaseline
and toothpaste need a whole department to set up and run a few insignificant
systems, a website and a couple of social network pages. Opening a heater-selling
business in India during summer, no less, would make more business sense than whatever
answer one has to the preceding question. And yes, I am keeping an open mind.
What they need is a solution(s). Full stop!
Some time back while I was just roaming the cyber space
(being an avid techno articles reader that I am) I stumbled upon an article
that had 15 of some of the world’s rising entrepreneurs each giving a point
about maximising the use of slates in business. It was a very compelling read
but I’m not going to delve deep into that, lest I stray from my topic, anyway
this was my response:
“Very informative
post. I have always thought that for each kind of business sector there should
be a predefined list of recommended applications and accessories for slates.
That would compel companies to invest less on their website experience,
technology adoption etc. just to get the better of their adversaries, but
channel all that charisma more towards delivering better products. It’s a
win-win situation for both companies and their clientele.”
I’ll admit: at the time I replied purely on impulse but now
if I vigilantly reflect on my reply, the amount of truth and common sense
encoded in it, it sobers me up. Take a moment and reflect upon this yourself;
how often do you go to a local grocery store’s website to look up the price of
a pack of chicken wings and, maybe, a can of Monster energy drink and how often
do you take time to criticise the design of their check-out systems? Most of
you most probably weren’t even aware of these things but if you answered ‘I do sometimes’ or ‘quite often actually’ fair enough, proceed to the next question. If
Company A offered a better website experience than company B which has lower
prices (both are your common Wal-Mart/Shoprite/Pick ‘n Pay grocery stores),
would Company A’s website experience induce you to buy from them? I didn’t
think so. Why then do these companies feel the need to invest huge amounts of
funds and capital resources on things like websites, check out systems,
scheduling of advertisements etc? I believe I speak for most when I say that if
I took a couple of groceries, forwarded the due amount at the till point, (and
wish I never have to work there) and got out the store that’s pretty much it. I
neither care how fancy that till machine looked nor do I care if the price tags
were digital (which is a wonderful thing) or old school paper.
It’s pretty obvious that websites, for retail stores at
least, are becoming redundant because of Facebook pages and their more intimate
nature to clients and which, paradoxically enough, costs exponentially less to
run than dedicated sites but if websites and sophisticated systems are utterly obligatory
then I think it’s financially and socially feasible to have a standardised blueprint
for all retails (and keep it strictly vanilla please) with each retail slotting
in just their logo and content. ‘Share the work, share the wealth’.
Just kidding...
(NB: The picture used in this piece of writing is not my property but that of vipdictionary.com and I used it purely for graphical presentation with no intention to infringe any potential copywrite laws and suchlike)
