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 COLUMN
Batter up for change MANAGEMENTSPEAK: Why do you have to make things so complicated?
ALTERNATE TRANSLATION: I'm too busy to give this more than a three-second glance. It must be your fault. -- IS Survivalist Bryan Mullinax uncomplicates the specifications for an executive summary. HITTING A PITCHED BASEBALL is the most difficult job in professional sports, or so I'm told. According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, about only 1 percent of the strike zone yields a solidly struck ball. The batter has less than a half-second to get his bat there and swing hard enough so the ball at least clears the infield. Hitting a baseball isn't easy, which is why anyone who bats .300 gets paid a lot of money. A recent column compared batting .300 to the similar rate of success experienced for CRM and SCM (supply-chain management) projects (see "The 70-percent failure," Oct. 29). Quite a few readers objected to the comparison. They're right, too: hitting a baseball is much easier. CRM and SCM require strategic change. As I use the terms, tactical change results in business improvement -- your measures get better -- whereas strategic change redefines your goals, and as a result changes what you measure. Strategic change is much, much harder. Why? Tactical change involves three organizational dimensions: Process, technology, and employee skills. Typically, you begin with process redesign, then design the technology the new process will need, and finish with a training program. That's hard enough. But it's far simpler than strategic change, which may involve as many as seven other dimensions of change as well, all interconnected and interdependent. Strategic change looks outside the company as well as inside. Looking out, you may need to redefine relationships with customers and vendors while rethinking your products and pricing. You need to anticipate how the marketplace you operate in will evolve, and you need to pay careful attention to your "messages" -- communication through all media, from advertising to conversations between customers and your call centers. Internal change gains complexity, too, because you can't stop with process, technology, and skills. Usually, strategic change leads to structural change as well: how you're organized, your compensation system, the criteria and paths through which employees advance, and your corporate culture. Some companies say they're implementing CRM when what they're really doing is installing SFA (sales-force automation) software. That's a tactical change, and even that is difficult. True CRM, SCM, or any other strategic change is a whole lot harder. In fact, it's a whole new ball game. Metaphorically challenged? Send Bob an e-mail at RDLewis@ISSurvivor.com. Bob Lewis is president of IT Catalysts ( www.itcatalysts.com ), an independent consultancy specializing in IT effectiveness and strategic alignment. Discuss this article in our online forums MORE > SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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