I was astounded to hear that Axon are in the process of being bought!
I see Axon as the last of the mid-sized SAP SI's (in a league with Xansa and Diagonal) and I feel that this will seriously impact the choice of the SAP customer.
The market will now be dominated by the big-boys who even though they have very different models (think Accenture and Infosys) will now be the only option for SAP implementations and will leave the customer to deal with a massive unweildy and frankly preditory partner.
I now see a very hard choice for the CIO of the medium sized SAP business, either rely on a big-bad-predatory SI or gamble on a much smaller niche supplier....... the options dont look good....
Do you think this polarisation of the market enhances or threatens the SAP market.....
I think its plain where I sit!
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Tuesday 19 August 2008
Use LEARNING to align IT and ‘the business’ better.
I was at a meeting yesterday which focused on the difference between training and learning from an IT perspective….
The remarkable thing was the difference in perception that the 2 words put in the minds of the participants and the significant shift in thinking that can be generated from looking from these 2 different perspective…
Training was seen as the responsibility of IT to provide to ‘the business’ when new systems are introduced.
However it was seen as ‘the businesses’ responsibility to ensure that their users were offered the learning processes to ensure they can do their jobs properly ……
Surely, these are one and the same thing and the only thing that matters is that the person at the end of the process can fulfill their role at the highest performance level.
So, as I did to the people in the meeting, who were project focused guys with responsibility to the CIO function; STOP TALKING TRAINING and ALWAYS TALK LEARNING.
As I have seen in the past and through many transition processes, Learning Strategies and Approaches bring a much better and more involved approach from ‘the business’ than anything labeled TRAINING which tends to be the last to get budgeted, is generally resourced poorly, the first to lose budget, the seemingly easiest to reduce the delivery timescales on.
So convert your role and thought processes from one of ‘Training’ to one of ‘Learning’ and see what a difference it makes.
The remarkable thing was the difference in perception that the 2 words put in the minds of the participants and the significant shift in thinking that can be generated from looking from these 2 different perspective…
Training was seen as the responsibility of IT to provide to ‘the business’ when new systems are introduced.
However it was seen as ‘the businesses’ responsibility to ensure that their users were offered the learning processes to ensure they can do their jobs properly ……
Surely, these are one and the same thing and the only thing that matters is that the person at the end of the process can fulfill their role at the highest performance level.
So, as I did to the people in the meeting, who were project focused guys with responsibility to the CIO function; STOP TALKING TRAINING and ALWAYS TALK LEARNING.
As I have seen in the past and through many transition processes, Learning Strategies and Approaches bring a much better and more involved approach from ‘the business’ than anything labeled TRAINING which tends to be the last to get budgeted, is generally resourced poorly, the first to lose budget, the seemingly easiest to reduce the delivery timescales on.
So convert your role and thought processes from one of ‘Training’ to one of ‘Learning’ and see what a difference it makes.
Friday 15 August 2008
Is the SAP world about to get smaller......?
This week I have heard not just rumours about SAP focussed businesses withdrawing from the UK, but counter-rumours (those that say "NO! we are not pulling out but did you know that such and such are ......?"). I can confirm that neither the original target NOR the counter target for this speculation are leaving the SAP UK market.
However, one smaller european company is packing its bags and returning to its european base as it has found the SAP market in the UK too hard and chewing up too much of its heard earned resources to enable it to continue!
I think there is about to be another round of consolidation where the small and medium SAP service suppliers who will find it harder and harder to find new projects, will get snapped up by the big guys who need more innovation, focus and USP's.
As for the big guys; maybe its just me, but I can see nothing in their offerings that differentiate them, are SAP Services now completely commoditised?
Anyway back to helping my clients build value-propositions that we can take to our ever growing CIO network......
Have a good weekend!
However, one smaller european company is packing its bags and returning to its european base as it has found the SAP market in the UK too hard and chewing up too much of its heard earned resources to enable it to continue!
I think there is about to be another round of consolidation where the small and medium SAP service suppliers who will find it harder and harder to find new projects, will get snapped up by the big guys who need more innovation, focus and USP's.
As for the big guys; maybe its just me, but I can see nothing in their offerings that differentiate them, are SAP Services now completely commoditised?
Anyway back to helping my clients build value-propositions that we can take to our ever growing CIO network......
Have a good weekend!
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