Loading ...When selecting a new SPM system - or any COTS system - people want a solution that will meet all their current needs… but they also want a solution that will meet any of their future needs. What are those future requirements? They are unknown at the time of purchase. It should not be a surprise that flexibility of a solution is often one of the top criteria for its selection.
But with great power comes great responsibility… The more flexible a system is, the easier it will be to make design decisions during implementation that could potentially have a negative impact in the future.
Flexibility also often comes at a cost. Many “less flexible” solutions (often SaaS solutions) are often less flexibility than other enterprise solutions. However, they still meet all the requirements of most clients, and it is this lack of flexibility that can allow them to be deployed in a shorter time frame.
Companies should really consider how far in the future they really should be looking. Are the requirements between today and 3 years from now really going to evolve that much? Looking at a more than 10 year horizon for a piece of software is an eternity. Furthermore, with an on-demand solution, it’s easy to switch to another solution at anytime… and with an on-premise solution, upgrades every 2-3 years will be required to maintain support from the vendor.
Finally, if for some reason your requirements are really so complicated that they are not supported by a leading SPM solution, ask yourself if your compensation plans really make sense.
Flexibility in systems integration projects is highly overrated and good consultants don’t let clients get caught up in this. Conversely good clients, clearly delineate time horizons and don’t allow themselves to get caught up in the mythical world of “someday”.
As a client, if you know there is some new enterprise or division measure in queue, then let’s deal with it. Otherwise we can speculate and extrapolate on “potential eventualities” (oxymoron if there ever was), while spending hundreds of thousands of extra dollars to deliver something you’re not certain you need but may at some discernable time in the future, that addresses some unforessen problem.
Like I said, good consultants don’t let clients get caught up in this. One of the very first things you do is sit with the client reps and tell them to immediately forget everything the software salesmen told them. Because if you try to design for every add on or new feature he promised we’ll spend a ton of money and get nowhere.
My recommendation is focus on the now and the knowable.
Kerek Taylor
cariboucrossing.blogspot.com