Opportunity and IT

Opportunity and IT are not always in sync with each other.  As a Solution's Architect for IBM I see this conflict frequently.  I have always loved computer "gear/stuff".  I can't help it.  I love new programs, operating systems and don't even get me started about hardware with all the cool blinking lights, spinning hard drives and colored cables!  But just because I love those things doesn't necessarily mean that my love of technology makes a good business decision.

To me, in order to be essential to my clients needs, I need to help them identify where there is an opportunity to leverage not only technology, but to seize an opportunity to help improve the business's  bottom line.  I have always taken the position that if technology cannot make a business more profitable through increased sales or decreased costs a client should not buy it.  It sounds counter-intuitive for a company like IBM, but stay with me on this one.  As a lover of all things IT, I would say "buy it, it will be so cool if we had the fastest (fill in the blank).  Truthfully, in business, that is the exact wrong approach.  If a company purchases equipment, services etc. just for the sake of doing so, it hasn't done its due diligence to identify what or where there is an opportunity to make the business more profitable.  

Opportunities are often discovered without technology.  Opportunities are discovered through honest evaluation of business processes, financials, inventory, customers etc. through multiple conversations.  Ironically, it is also the most satisfying way to procure the IT goods and services from a business partner like IBM.  When an opportunity is discovered, there is no need for a client to be sold anything.  The client is in the drivers seat demanding that the business opportunity be leveraged.  By helping the client identify the business opportunity, the IT solution presents itself as what it should be, a catalyst for taking advantage of the business opportunity and helping to maximize the businesses profits.

As a Solutions Architect for IBM, my role is sometime misunderstood.  My primary function is not to find the best "speeds and feeds" for a company.  I am here to help a business find that next great opportunity, strategize the best way to leverage that opportunity, and give the client the best chance at maximizing the opportunity and expanding the profitability of the company.