Coming from the IT world of 1’s and 0’s, technologists can sometimes see things in black and white, and struggle to reconcile both views. Certainly customer value is a variable which obviously depends upon the customer - their needs but also their maturity in knowing what is appropriate for their situation.
Wikipedia explains that “in Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin (ying, for those less versed in the Chinese language) and yang is used to describe how polar, seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn.”

In the movie What Women Want, Mel Gibson’s character begins to understand his intended ‘customer’, when he gets into their minds. In the movie, the secret seemed to be in the ability to read minds. Spending 15 years in IT, there are times I wished we had such a Star Trek Vulcan-like tool to better understand what our customers REALLY wanted. In this issue of the Alinement Magazine, we get into the minds of our IT customers, hearing from experience in the domains of measurement, security, improvement and Gen Y!

From the CIO's viewpoint, balancing technology with business value is impossible if business decisions are delegated to the CIO by virtue of them being technology-enabled investments. While they may appreciate the opportunity to implement a new ERP or upgrade a customer management system, well-governed IT needs business owners to fully appreciate the investment rationale, prior to them taking ownership and implementing the technology-enabled portion.

From a customer viewpoint, IT is often accused of delivering solutions they didn’t want. Technologists should not assume that a solution that does not meet all their criteria of completeness or correctness is not of value for that particular customer. Technologists should not feel the need to unnecessarily upgrade something that meets the customer’s wants and needs. Just because some businesses seek to adopt leading edge technology to stay competitive does not mean that it is a driver for every customer. Technologists should allow and encourage customers to make that decision themselves (see Rocky’s article about responding to Gen Y, Tony’s article about responding to security users, Pam’s article about responding to agility, Alain’s article about responding to improvement).

That being said, I am a strong advocate of standards. As you read Alain’s article, you will understand that this also revolves around value! So, what are the unwavering needs of technologists? The articles we have brought together in this issue offer us some great insight into customer drivers, as well as what technologists need to explain or do, to synthesise apparent contradictions. Customers and technologists are not yin and yang, but can create harmony if they go about it in the right way! Would customers be frightened off if we predict what they want in a Twilight Zone-like ‘What You Need’ giving them what they want before they ask for it? Imagine a world where technologists respond to customers in the way they need, but still being unwavering in what they reasonably need.. Hang on – that’s the promise of the latest hype. Maybe we shouldn’t be looking for Silver Bullets that fix the problem, but rather walking a mile in the other person’s shoes!

Tell us more about your experiences with speed, security awareness, process improvement and dealing with different aged customers – and whether you identify with Gen Y, Gen X or Baby Boomer!