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Scary StoriesEvery now and then, I'll be relating a scary story to you about one of my clients who has not experienced the best that the IT industry has to offer. The objective will be not only to frighten the wits out of you, but to give you a moral - to avoid the tech demons in your own company. Let's start with a small manufacturing company - Caldwell Widget Manufacturing Co. - that sold their soul to an icky little ERP software company. This company manufacturers small widgets (as opposed to really big widgets). They have about 50 employees, of which about 40 work in production. The process is highly automated and they are one of the few manufacturers of these particular thingamajigs in the country. Several years ago, they invested in a network-based accounting and shop management system. Last year, they were advised by their vendor that they had to upgrade...the old software wasn't going to be supported anymore and it wasn't Y2K compliant. So this poor company had to not only invest in new software, they had to purchase two new servers...a UNIX box and a new file server. Just the purchase of the network software, hardware, services and infrastructure set them back about $25,000. This doesn't include the cost of the new software. Now, it's worth pointing out that this company didn't NEED the MRP functionality of the new stuff. The owner of the company and his staff probably won't use any more than a fraction of the capabilities of the program. To add insult to injury, it turns out that this software vendor has been having some problems. They've had some internal turmoil and they are edging closer and closer to financial oblivion. Their tech support function has taken budget cuts. And, as the final stab in the chest, the software that they sold to Caldwell wasn't even beta code. It was still being actively worked on by the vendor's programmers. The owner asked me one day, after a particularly exasperating bout with the support people, "So, do you know if there is any other software like this that will run on this UNIX box?" Unfortunately, he was kind of locked into the platform and, after reflection, didn't want to spend more time trying to find another program. He had also invested a lot of sweat in the current stuff. The last time I heard, after owning the hardware and software for 8 months, the company still was not in production. And they have less than a year to go until 2000. The owner, a very nice gentleman that just doesn't deserve this hassle, had to become VERY knowledgeable about computers - his MIS manager gave up and quit. There are some morals to the story: 1. Get financial information on the company whose product you're buying. Make sure they are solvent and have a stable history so that you can feel comfortable that they'll be with you all the way. If you are making a sizable investment in hardware, software and services, I'd highly recommend you go out and VISIT the company and the executives. Make sure they're real. Plus, you'll be doing them a favor. Your visit will force them to clean up the office. Customers coming calling always puts everyone on their best behavior. 2. Avoid getting locked into a proprietary hardware or software platform. If things go wrong, you want to have some options. 3. Check references. Unfortunately, our hero did. He just didn't check enough. You should talk to at least 3 companies, similar to yours, that are using the same exact software. Again, visiting would be a good thing. 4. Make sure you're getting real code and not beta software. You should really avoid any software that hasn't been through a couple of revisions to smooth out the bugs. 5. Buy software you're going to use. You should always plan for growth, but don't buy more than you'll ever reasonably use, or that would require a complete overhaul in the way you conduct your business. Beware of the salesman who convinces you that you want all those bells and whistles - that you'll use them one day. Extras on a car are fun - they generally don't interfere with getting from point a to point b. In a program, they make the software more complex and unstable. Stay away from goodies that you really won't use. 6. I can't help much with the MIS manager - maybe chains would have helped. But maybe avoiding this situation in the first place would have kept him around. Pretty scary, huh? Just wait. There are many more stories. By the way, the names have been changed to protect the innocent - me.
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