A CIO looking to commiserate 2

Ghost · Apr 4, 2000

OK, this may sound foolish, but a big part of my job is picking the right vendors who will support our needs over the next 1-3 year time period.  Problem is, it is getting harder and harder to separate the wheat from the chaff.  That's why these forums are a breath of fresh air. So, now to the question (which I hope doesn't turn into a flame war)... What companies do you think are qualified to lead the technology curve in the next 2-5 years and why?  And, I'd like to talk about the companies selling product, not outfits that contact and outsource.  Let's keep it to the root technologies, OK? I know you can pay a few thousand dollars for a few pounds of paper from Gartner, Forrester, Jupiter, Meta or IDG but thought it might be interesting to throw this out to the group here. Thanks for your input. Ghost

johnk · Apr 6, 2000

A little narrowing of scope would help. Interestd in equipment, or operating systems, or application software, etc? Big organization, small, etc? In house development staff? John Kisner <a href=mailto:jlkisner@jlkisner.com>jlkisner@jlkisner.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Ghost · Apr 6, 2000

OK, best to keep it on a project by project basis as you are correct the question was a little open. While maintaining confidentiality, let's say we are a medium sized business that is hot and heavy on an e-commerce initiative.  Staff support Novell and NT server environment and have some exposure to the web. Do you go with Linux or NT, or something else? What are the security concerns? Should we outsource or do the site development and maintenance ourselves? Should we bring in a consultant on the front end and have them walk us through all the options in person? Are their websites with unbiased writers that lay out some of these options with the pros and cons (without getting religious about Linux or NT)? Thanks, Ghost

johnk · Apr 6, 2000

Ghost,  My thing is multitier business application development, deployment & support so I can't contribute.  I'd expect that there will be several who will. Don't know if it would help but these is a web site development forum on this site. Good luck. John Kisner <a href=mailto:jlkisner@jlkisner.com>jlkisner@jlkisner.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Ghost · Apr 6, 2000

Thanks John.  I think I'll hold with this post.  Wasn't really looking for the "how" to do something, but rather the "why" we should. Just hate to get caught with someone pointing the finger at my saying "I told you to do this or that 2 years ago".  Seems like once you marry into a technology or vendor they are REALLY hard to divorce.

Ghost

MikeLacey · Apr 7, 2000

Ghost, It's certainly true that once you get into bed with a supplier it's hard to sneak out saying "I'll call you in the morning." My razor wit aside - Your queries: I suggest the platform you run on (Linux/NT/Whatever) should be driven by the skills you have in-house right now. New technical staff are hard to break-in (you don't need me to tell you that) and you know your current staff - and to what extent you can trust their techical advice. If you're going to be hosting the ecommerce server inhouse your security concerns are quite pressing - firewall, demilitarised zones and such are not optional here. Take the advice of your... External consultants are useful when you're moving into unknown territory like this and you should "carefully examine their recent track record" <grin> and ask how many tech people they have - who would they assign - what have they done - all the usual stuff. Interesting discussion - please keep it going Mike Mike Lacey <a href=mailto:Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com>Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com</a> <a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a>

MKR · Apr 13, 2000

I certainly have to agree with Mike.  Take a good look at the technical staff you currently have (and consider those from other areas who show an interest in being groomed).  I have been on both sides (currently a  developer; formerly a consultant).  I once consulted on a team that was hired so that the first consultants on the job could transfer knowledge to us so that we could transfer knowledge to the technical personnel in-house. If there is any way to check the references on consultants you hire, do it!  We came in as locals behind the big-name consultants who were using sql to change the data behind the scenes before it was interfaced to another system.  Not a good thing. Be sure to define exactly what "knowledge transfer" means and document it so it can be considered a deliverable.  If your core team doesn't know any more after the consultants leave, then you will find yourself getting a bigger bed so that both the vendors AND the consultants can fit in there with you. HTH, MKR MKR <a href=mailto: > </a> <a href= > </a>

kelt · Jun 8, 2000

The only advice I can give is as follows Read, read, read.  Get hold of couple of good publications that specialize in disseminatiing information about the computer industry and make sure they have information on how businesses are using new technology (gives you a better idea of how this technology applies to you). If you are a company that is trying to take advantage of the "first initiative"  then you have to be a little more aggressive, get in contact with other CIO's in large corporations and see what they are planning.  Send either yourself or an employee you trust out to the trade shows, attend the conferences. As was stated in the answers above, look internally first, then go outside your company.  But remember when looking internally, the person with the most interest in upcoming trends might not just be in the IT department, it might be their trainers, trainers have to keep approximately a year ahead of the curve in order to make sure they have the skill set to train their clients.

bigscouse · Jun 21, 2000

The question is do you want to go with the companies you are told are leading the technology curve or do you want those that deliver the products best suited to your needs and can guarentee being around for the next 5 years to porvide support and development? There used to be a saying "No one ever got fired for buying IBM" so you may want to stay with the blue chips. That maybe the safe option but not always the cheapest or best for your business. Have you asked your own techical staff these questions? If there is one thing that gets up peoples noses it is when senior management impose new technology for their staff to support when the staff were not consulted and the technology is considered to be "pants". Have you checked the suppliers web sites to see their full range of products, and maybe check if they are listing your competitors as customers? Ged Jones <a href=mailto:gedejones@hotmail.com>gedejones@hotmail.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Ghost · Jun 22, 2000

Sure, the staff is all excited to go opensource. But I think that step is best taken if you already are a production UNIX shop. Too many learning curves and no real support for my Novell and NT kids. Looks like we'll probably go with NT. However, there is an opportunity for the project to be scaled down so the risk is lower. This would make me lean towards biting the bullet and going Linux. This would give the guys something fun to learn, give us time to make mistakes (where LOTS of people aren't watching too close), dump the consultants and help us break away from the BlueChip vendor strangle.

Thanks all for your input. Ghost

hendoo49 · Jun 26, 2000

Ghost,    I have an experience of working with an outside source for getting our business into ecommerce.  This company (we'll call them ABC) was very technical and knew their stuff.   We are very happy with the outcome but, yes there is a but, (there always is) since they are a consulting firm they had jobs with other companies.  Well company 123 (another company they did a job for) was so impressed with them they bought them out right.  This means we have about 1 month left of support from them to finish the project.  You know as well as anyone else there is always a need for future support.  We will need to look elsewhere when that need may arise.     In my experience, don't worry to much about who will support, and who will have the technical knowhow.  Just keep up with technology.  There will always be someone out there that knows the technology or is willing to learn it.  There will always be a consulting firm ready to take over where someone else left off.  The people who don't will be left behind.

NedLudd · Jul 20, 2000

I think the deeper issue here, and one that I have struggled with recently, is the overall poor performance of many vendors.  While this has always been the case it seems to have got much worse the last 6-12 months.  Whether it is due to the strong economy making it hard to get good pre-sales engineers or tech support, I don't know.  The hype about IT may have driven every business school leech into the industry, or perhaps it is just that I am getting better at seeing through the rhetoric.   My approach has been to stay with the blue chips even though that has burned me in a couple of cases (Legato?).  Overall, dealing with Cisco, Sun, Compaq, Oracle is generally more efficient and pleasant than finding support from lower tier providers (although I recognize that we pay handsomely for that privilege).  Yes, I could buy 2 or 3 Linux servers for the price of one rackmount compaq server, but will that company still be here to support it in 2 years?  When I order another 3 or 4 noname servers will they have the same ethernet cards, same SCSI controllers, etc?   In software, however, the relationship between name and quality is not so clear, and I won't use anything without a full-featured FREE evaluation in advance.   Just my 0.02 worth.

bigscouse · Aug 9, 2000

I totaly agree with NedLudd. Ged Jones <a href=mailto:gedejones@hotmail.com>gedejones@hotmail.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Ghost · Aug 9, 2000

Thanks all for the input.  Seems as though most open ended questions like mine wind up in "compromise" and that is exactly what we did. A high priced consultant was brought in to look at our situation and made some recommendations.  The staff and I talked about our options and took on some new technology they thought would be neat but also get our job done. There have been some bumps and embarrassments as we get this project off the ground but the guys making the mistakes are my best employees.  So, they're here to fix things and they are learning. We did go with the "big company" solution.  Took a look at Linux type options but seemed too risky for how large this is, and our potential need for quick and effective outside support.  (Also, our highend consultant had never seen a Linux job as large as ours....) Thank you again to everyone.  It's nice to read everyones different thoughts. Ghost

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A CIO looking to commiserate 2

Ghost

MIS

johnk

MIS

Ghost

MIS

johnk

MIS

Ghost

MIS

MikeLacey

MIS

MKR

Programmer

kelt

Instructor

bigscouse

MIS

Ghost

MIS

hendoo49

MIS

NedLudd

MIS

bigscouse

MIS

Ghost

MIS

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