[TriLUG] [OT] What's the value of IT?

[Tim Jowers]

OpenSource leveled the playing field. It used to take millions to
write an insurance company software but now can be done for ~1M or
less. Of course, most states are still sinking money into the
incumbents. This is really a revolution in the style of the Over
Mountain Men and the American Revolution.

I'm sure 0% of small business owners realize what has happened or how
to leverage this. Its like the 3d solid modeler, the Internet, or the
smartphones. Just too great a leap forward for businesses to realize
how to profit from it.

TimJowers


On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 11:50 PM, Maxwell Spangler
<max09 at maxwellspangler.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-05-13 at 20:30 -0400, Phillip Rhodes wrote:
>
>> Jim, do you recall our discussion about the long-term view and
>> the way it would be good to work with small-businesses that grow
>> up to be the next $BIG_PROFITABLE_CO, so you can grow with them?
>> That's part of what I'm getting at with this discussion.
>
>> So I'm interested in how to help a mom and pop flower-shop that
>> will never be more than 1 store, but more interested in a mom
>> and pop flowers-shop that wants to be the next 1-800-FLOWERS.
>
> IT is an important part of running a business, but it is only a balanced
> part of most businesses -- not the center or heavily weighted part.  I
> notice three types these days:
>
> * Independent businesses that are focused on increasing revenue and
> keeping costs down.  That description should apply to all businesses but
> what sets these apart is their myopic view: They tend to focus on doing
> the the same things in the same way with only slight changes and pennies
> matter.  These are the ones that might buy into your IT project,
> reluctantly, but then nickle and dime you on getting it done or
> supporting it.  These are the guys that will go out of business in the
> future as their competition embraces change.
>
> * Small businesses with great potential.  Think local chain with less
> than ten locations.  They've already shown they have the drive,
> management capabilities to scale up, and the capital to do it.  These
> guys listen when you talk about things IT can do to change them for the
> better.  If they hear an IT investment will increase their capabilities
> and either save money or increase revenue, they're interested.  And they
> have enough revenue to pay reasonable rates and continue to grow in the
> future.  These guys are the ones to watch in the future.
>
> * Big businesses with strong management that want to be market leaders.
> They treat every aspect of their business as serious: They know a good
> marketing program can fail or succeed with great rewards and well
> thought out IT systems can... do the same.  These are the guys who have
> their computers gathering massive amounts of data about past, present
> and potential customers in order to target their sales and marketing
> efforts towards maximum sales at the highest prices.
>
> That's my current view of the business market.  I have to say I'm very
> much let down by the first group, the smallest independent businesses.
> This country is now littered with towns full of once thriving businesses
> that chose not to embrace change enough and got beat out.  I can't stop
> myself from having ideas about how IT could improve their businesses but
> what I can't do is get them to listen and/or believe in it half the
> time.
>
> If the world was run by IT people, we'd have those Jetsons' hovercars
> zipping around :-)
>
>
> --
> Maxwell Spangler
>
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