EVOLUTION OF BPR

Thought on an impact of IT on economics

Posted on the October 12th, 2008 under Change Management by Gregory Yankelovich

I would like to pose a theory that the “Internet” bubble was burst by sudden stop of tremendous flow of cash into myriad of projects 2000, not by sudden realization by “the Market” that there is no such thing as “Internet Economy”. Such realizations do not come suddenly.

Technology is often marketed by visionaries who have or display very strong “religious” believes necessary to gather momentum, critical mass of “converts” to make a dream the reality. Hence a term “evangelist” often used to describe  job function of these people.

Peter Drucker wrote in his classic book “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” that it often takes 15 years for a new technology to mature into commercially viable product, and provides a number of history examples. The IT industry is particularly susceptible to early claims of technology adoptions - perhaps you are old enough to remember promises of Artificial Intelligence and Paperless Office. Well, it seems that some of these promises are finally being delivered and not in a form of self serving advertising, but in a form of actually observed change in underlying business trends. The Economist reports that

demand for office paper began declining. David Pineault, a paper expert at InfoTrends, a consultancy, estimates that office workers in rich countries will reduce their consumption of “uncoated freesheet” paper (called “woodfree” in Europe)-the sort used in offices-every year for the foreseeable future. Some market segments, such as high-quality paper for photo printing, may buck the trend. But overall, Mr Pineault is “bearish” on paper.

“It’s a generational thing,” says Greg Gibson, in charge of North American office paper at International Paper (IP), the world’s largest paper-maker. Older people still prefer a hard copy of most things, but younger workers are increasingly comfortable reading on screens and storing and retrieving information on computers or online. As a result, IP has closed five uncoated-freesheet mills in America in the past decade, and the industry is consolidating. IP is investing instead in poor countries, where demand is still growing.

If you build it - will they come?

Posted on the May 3rd, 2008 under Business Risk, CRM, Change Management, Enterprise Software, Organizational Transformation, Value of BPR by Gregory Yankelovich

Ben Worthen of WSJ Business Technology Blog reported about adoption problem experienced by SureScripts.

Doctors are reluctant to change the way they’ve always done things, Rick Ratliff, SureScripts CEO, tells the Business Technology Blog. That’s why more than 26,000 pharmacies across the country — including major chains like CVS, Walgreens and Wal-Mart – are now marketing the e-prescription program directly to consumers. The hope is that enough patients will ask their doctors about the programs that doctors will be forced to use them.

This story illustrates a cost of ignoring cardinal law of holistic application design - WIITFM (What Is It For Me). Considering that the appeal of SureScripts for the pharmacies is no-brainer (shifting a burden of data entry to doctors), what would motivate the doctors to change the way they do things?

Many business applications project investments were written off because of this failure. CRM initiatives are probably the hardest hit segment. However the attempts to correct this by bullying people into adoption, as Mr. Ratcliff is quoted to suggest, will likely produce even more waste and anguish. Perhaps honest and creative review of the system would produce an improvement, which would motivate doctors to use the e-prescriptions because it save time for them - like allowing them to dictate a prescription.

“Win-Win” is a popular phrase for Sales motivational trainers, but it is probably even more important concept in “Design for Adoption”  business.