Best of Breed Technology Solutions

I have been on a number of projects recently where the CIO has taken a best of breed approach to their overall digital solution, obviously including an ERP. My mantra is to never lead with methodology. Those of you who are past clients will know, I ask the ‘why’ questions – a lot. I adapt what I do and the tool set I bring, to deliver what is in the best interest of my client. To that end, I have noticed those charged with managing organisational IT assets, as a general rule, have been leading with their methodology. That is, they do the things they like doing using the tools they want to use and want to learn to use. 

It is my belief this is not necessarily in the best interests of the organisation because the overhead required to maintain these connections can become quite burdensome, especially today with the frequent changes and updates to cloud applications. They will often break a connection you may have built. You also often replicate functionality from your core systems in order to overcome some technical hurdle in the interface.

You run a very high risk of creating a solution that is a spaghetti junction of connections and interfaces. So much so that a system schematic diagram looks like the proverbial bowl of spaghetti: combined and crossing lines everywhere.

While a best of breed strategy is a powerful one, be careful you don’t end up creating your own Frankenstein.

If you’re an executive or owner of a mid-sized or large company and want to discuss ideas on how you can use systems and technology to dramatically improve efficiency, decrease costs, and increase profits and enhance scalability, give me a call. 

Sincerely,
David

© David Ogilvie