"Systems" Heroes or Villians

Regularly there is some dilemma and many myths regarding "systems", which bird of the storms can be criticized, questioned, supported and / or idolized.

You know them when you arrive, when something goes wrong or when your playing the hacker is identified and you are blocked, the rest of the time does not exist.

We will not become purists by invoking the general theory of Ludwig von Bertalanffy's systems, nor will we fall into a battle of concepts. We will simply see it as people identify it on a regular basis: information systems, technological infrastructure, communications. (Maybe we do not agree with the classification, but it is not about a class but about solutions to real life).

When buy a packaged system we assume that it works alone and will solve everything, in case the secret lies in the configuration and adequate training, as well as the development of procedures that facilitate internal control and monitoring of operations. Here, small and medium-sized companies are regularly the first to appear and suffer with network configurations, as well as with licensing. Consider that they usually ask for annual updates to support fiscal changes, support and improvements. Licensing schemes are fundamental.

When you buy an ERP, CRM, BI, WMS; it is configured and adapted to the particularities up to where the system or budget allow it. This will change the procedures regularly and present resistance to change, more due to ignorance and planning, than to the change itself. They carry hidden costs in infrastructure, licensing, maintenance. They handle concurrent or named users, the latter being a more expensive and bureaucratic scheme.

You can also manage the option of hosting or services in the cloud, where the key aspect will be connectivity and security, the connection part becomes more expensive only if they ask for symmetric Internet, but do not lose sight of the fact that the business in this segment is consumption. of storage and transactions. Licensing types also play an important role, as well as scalability.

Develop to the measure, has its peculiarities. On the one hand, the expected functionality is established, on the other, dependence is created if the analysis and design documents are not standardized and the consulting firms do not handle similar qualities. They are adjustable, the licensing is not as expensive as the large systems and usually support the IT area for implementation. They carry their maintenance costs and according to the methodology, but above all to the follow-up, it can be easy to carry and adapt to the needs of the company.

In particular, I do not lean towards a specific brand, each one has its pros and cons. I do not receive commission for selling them, I receive satisfactions, recommendations, new projects; based on the results, times, quality and strategic alignment. It does not benefit private or traditional brands such as Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft, IBM, SAP, etc.

"A good consultant does not sell brands, he is an articulator of solutions" - JMCoach

Methodologies? That methodology that is really understood by the members of the teams and is implemented with attachment and continuous monitoring, will be appropriate. There are no valid certifications if vital mistakes are made and the ego rules. The secret lies in balancing the teams, having a real knowledge of the business, leveraging the commitment of all participants, who must know the strategy fully understand.

With regard to software and hardware, it is often convenient to buy, finance or lease; this is in line with the business lines, tax recommendations, renewal, etc. Whereas everything is periodically renewed in cycles of 3 to 5 years.

The world of systems and technology is fascinating, it does not stop to progress to be an instrument of innovation of services and products, in increasingly competitive, demanding and changing markets.

The success of each project lies in aligning it with the business strategy, communication and monitoring.

If the system crashed, it may be real that the box where it came from, or the server that contains it, has been dropped. However, in practice it is a saturation of the services and the temporary blocking of them. Hence, the infrastructure management part has monitoring, analysis and prevention tasks. Not only do they block us from browsing the internet, they manage security in an integral way. An infrastructure area would gradually mature to prevent this. In addition to the benefits of the technological architecture that sets the guidelines for strategic alignment and solutions.

Regularly the technical support area or help desk is the one that pays for the broken dishes or takes the greatest glories, but it is their job to be day to day with the users assuring that they have their technological resources operating.

In itself the areas of systems, IT or as they are called in your company; They have the mission to be aligned with the company's strategies and provide solutions with availability of services.

By JMCoach

@JormerMx 

http://www.twitter.com/JormerMx

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