When I present application modernization topics at conferences, while some attendees ask questions like “Where do I start?” the overwhelming majority of people want to understand terminology, buzzwords, new technology concepts, and sales pitches. Making sense of this noise from vendors is close to the top of the list of challenges for IT departments today. Vendors want you to buy their products, and they're working hard for your business. But sifting through the marketing-speak to look for essential information about a solution can be daunting. This article offers some thoughts on how to identify what's noise and what's music.
On Demand
A few years back, IBM announced their "On Demand" approach to business and IT. This term became part of the vernacular of IBM employees, from the executives, to the sales force, to the technical teams. Yet, when challenged, many of those who uttered the term couldn't express a consistent definition, and most of the presentations on the topic were simply read from the slides. I studied On Demand in detail and discovered that its core tenet was to align business with IT. I found that HP delivered their competing version of On Demand but named it "Adaptive Enterprise." Microsoft began talking about their version, referring to it as "Connected Systems." From this, it was obvious industry leaders agreed upon an approach—but what exactly was it?
On Demand was presented with a list of words that included responsive, variable, focused, resilient, integrated, autonomic, virtualized, and open. Without much explanation, these words were meaningless. The explanations found on the On Demand website were confusing, more detailed than was necessary, and while reading the blog of the leading On Demand champion, I found more about that person's cat and children than the topic itself.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) also suffers from this kind of confusion. For example, the "A" in SOA stands for "Architecture," yet you can find vendors selling SOA "software"—none of which is actually software for architects. The concept of Service Orientation is one that will become an inherent trait of all future IT and applications, regardless of its name and misrepresentation by vendors, because it's the next logical evolution in IT development. You may have SOA already, but you may not understand what it is—or that you're actually doing it—because of vendor noise.
Your response should be this: Find the detailed definitions of the buzzwords and terminology (preferably from the vendor site), research the concepts being proffered, then re-read the marketing.
More than Ever!
Marketing-speak often adds to the confusion. Consumer retail is full of words and phrases like “instant,” “fast,” “new and improved,” “now more than ever,” “easy,” and “satisfaction guaranteed,” which vendors believe can manipulate individuals (you and me included) into sending them money. A personal favorite is the entire set of “save time, money, and space” in one headline. Search the web for marketing terms and you discover lists of words considered to be powerful, magical, and persuasive—they appeal to your emotion. One list on the web claims that these seven words are the most powerful: amazing, because, easy, free, how to, new, now. Another site references this list, going further and adding "you" to the list.
Using such words extends beyond consumer retail. You can find many of these words in marketing in our industry. In the world of application modernization, it's become very confusing—look at some of the ads you see in your inbox emails, for example. After removing those emotion words, what's left may be even more nonsensical.
Your response should be: Identify the emotional response triggered by the words, remove those from the marketing material, then re-read the marketing.
Branding
Last week I received an email from a vendor pitching me something that would work with my iSeries. I replied asking if this would run on the IBM i OS, and the response I received was “As long as you have Client Access (or whatever the newest version is called).”
Certainly, our industry suffers from some branding degradation, and it's often difficult to know what to call our beloved platform, or the tools that we use every day. By now, though, vendors who are serious about this platform can be easily identified by their use of the correct branding. When a vendor uses the IBM i brand consistently, even with a qualifier of “includes AS/400, iSeries, System i,” you can trust they're up to date with IBM and up to date with our platform and its future. Vendors who respond with “Whatever it's called this week” are serious about pandering to an aging, stubborn audience, but not to you.
Your response should be: Trash all the emails that have the wrong brand name in the subject, then re-read the marketing from the rest.
Celebrities
As with retail marketing, the world of IBM i and Power Systems uses "celebrities" to promote its products. Once a person has written on a subject, published an article, or presented a session at a conference, vendors court them to engage in marketing activities. This is represented to the "celebrity" as an event that won't compromise his or her integrity, although some "celebrities" truly relish the opportunity to endorse a product in which they believe.
There are, however, traps for everyone involved. One vendor recently engaged a big name in the industry to present the first half of a webinar—based on, it seems, the topic name. When the big name presented a personal philosophy, it was at odds with the vendor’s webinar topic and at odds with the vendor’s own philosophy. Another "celebrity" offered a quote to a vendor; that quote in turn became a fully-fledged marketing campaign based on the big name. The big name was subsequently dropped from marketing activities from other vendors, who mistakenly assumed the "celebrity" had now sold out.
And, as with retail marketing, having a celebrity endorse, promote, or otherwise be engaged in marketing a product in our industry doesn't improve the product itself. It's important in IT that the products do what their seller purports, not what a brochure or web page claims.
Your response should be: Read all you can that's been written or blogged by the celebrity, send an email to ask his or her opinion, and see if the response is personal or just a form letter. Then re-read the marketing.
False Accusations
One advertising practice outlawed in some countries involves running down the competition. Political ads in the U.S. are rife with negative ads, and while this doesn't overflow into our industry quite as much, it does happen.
An example I've seen is related to the use of the term "screen scraping." This is often a controversial subject and also confusing to the IBM i customer population. One vendor has a product that delivers your green-screen applications to the web via a browser. They use technology that subverts the 5250 data stream, claiming they're not a "screen scraper." They lobby this about, slamming their competitors with the associated stigma of screen scraping. Technically speaking, they don’t scrape the 5250 data stream, but all they can deliver is the same 24 x 80 screen that was previously delivered to an emulator.
If a vendor has a product that can stand up to its competitors, you should be sold on the merits of the product. Competing for customers' business should be educational and informative, not negative and derogatory. The measure of a vendor can be determined by the amount of noise they aim at their competitors.
Your response should be: Remove the anti-competitor rhetoric from the brochures, emails, and web sites, then re-read the marketing.
Shady Practices
Some vendors engage in activities that seem to be reprehensible while claiming that no law has been broken. One vendor was so scared of their competition, they purchased several domain names similar to their competitor and re-directed them to their own website. Another vendor sends invoices to the accounts payable departments of prospects during the evaluation period. I know of one customer who asked for the money back, while several others were shamed into keeping the product because they were scared to tell their management they had made a mistake.
Your response should be: Learn about a vendor by talking to their support division or employees during the evaluation cycle. Talk to other customers, not referenced by the vendor, about their experiences in dealing with the vendor. Then re-read the marketing.
WTHIT, WDYK, and WIIFM?
Other than the tips offered above, there are three defensive techniques you can use to help sort through the noise of vendor speak and better understand what's being offered. First, avoid a whim. Second, know your subject. Third, ask questions.
What The Heck Is That (WTHIT)? Your personal emotional triggers are in the way of filtering vendor noise. Learn the words that trigger emotional responses and look for their use by vendors. If something doesn't feel right, go with that instinct. Avoid making decisions on a whim, even if that delays your decision. It's better to pay in time now than later with your money.
What Do You Know? (WDYK)? Knowing your subject requires research, reading, and networking. Subscribe to independent industry publications for better and varied reviews. Subscribe to several vendors’ mailing lists in the marketplace, remembering to use a different email address for these subscriptions so you can avoid being spammed with your normal address. Attend conferences and industry events and listen to topics related to your current interest. Network furiously with attendees at conferences to discover their experiences with vendors—even those with whom you don't currently have a relationship. Diligence is required in this competitive market.
What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)? The easiest approach to sorting through all the noise is to ask the vendor one simple question: “How will your product allow my company to achieve its goals?” The beneficiary of the right choice in product selection should be your company. The aim in asking this question is to determine the vendors who best understand this and are working for your success. It may take a little time, but you'll know that you're on the right track when the vendor’s response is “What are the goals of your company?”
The Sound of Success
Certainly, vendors are working for their own success, but for them to achieve that goal, their customers have to succeed, too. You, as a customer, can succeed by sorting through the noise of the many marketing pitches you hear and finding the music—a solution that's going to truly help your business.
Trevor Perry is a popular speaker and consultant on modernization and IT strategy, including BI, around the globe—and occasionally at home in New York. His sessions on a united approach to IT and business strategies challenge traditional methods and lead companies as they move their IT organizations into the future. Outside of his IT role, Trevor forges new trails with his inspiring motivational sessions, and he is the author of the book Never Iron When You Are Naked, which contains, as he puts it, "the best motivational stories you can read one page at a time."