How and why IT fails?

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Is it vendors' neglect, or users fault or another CIO charge? Prem Kamble, vice president, global software infrastructure, Sutherland Global Services shares all his experiences, candour and some bird's eye view on the reasons, mistakes and mishaps that go behind failures of apparently promising IT deployments in an organization.

CyberMedia News: What kind of IT initiatives falls in the failure bucket? Are they talked about?
Prem Kamble: There are many failures that are not often talked about. Failures can be delays. Some IT implementations and benefits could have happened faster, but delay makes it a failure. In another cases, applications brought in but not used are failures.

CMN: Why do they fail?
P.K: The biggest and weakest link in any software is communication. To a large extent, it depends on the users and their understanding of the process. They have no time to share their needs and specific issues at the requirement gathering stage. At that time, they say go ahead and do it. But it's always easy to blame it later.

CMN: How have you experienced and tackled such failures so far?
P.K: In one instance, there was a Peoplesoft application, which grabbed a lot of attention. And we had to put in a separate HR team to implement it. It was tested software and needed a customized programme also. The first mistake was that it was given to a quality person for deploying. Though it was not a complete failure but we still use in-house application for some requirements. There may be solid technologies but possibly with solid pitfalls.

Because of this pitfall, procedures like documentation and trial runs were put in place.

CMN: Who should take the blame of a failure- the CIO or the vendors? Is it ever seen as a joint accountability?
P.K: Yes it is a joint charge. But mostly, the management keeps asking the CIO why is the system not working. The vendor can easily say, that he never got the specs right.

CMN: So what is the right way of solving failure dilemmas?
P.K: The user requirements should be shared and gathered properly to start with and signed by the user. Proper documentation and trials are important too. Most importantly, senior management's involvement in the right degree makes a lot of difference. Sometime, they over-react and spoil things.

CMN: As a CIO, what should one remember in tackling failure situations?
P.K: The role of CIO is very tough. One needs tact more than any other skill in handling the people issues. There are people, politics and psychological problems to be combated. The trick is to find people who can endorse and espouse the IT initiative. You need people with enthusiasm and risk-appetite here. I have, in my experience, seen bosses and heads who were eager to do IT action but too scared and not ready enough to experiment. My job was to tactfully bring up a junior, to take the lead. He was not a technical expert but was analytical, a go-getter, a risk-taker and brave to try out and fail. Such people are instrumental in driving an IT change.

CMN: What is easier in implementing the right IT solution, is it being convinced by the right vendor or convincing your organization's people?
P.K: Being convinced by the vendor is much easier. At internal side, there are mental blocks to be dealt with.


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