October 6, 2004

When "technology fails" is it really techonlogy or humans

It's easy for we humans to blame, "the computer" for problems in our businesses. But often times its good to really consider, is it the computer or do we have businesses procedures which impede efficiency?

(stranded passengers wait for a delayed flight due to a "technology" failure - left)

When I speak about technology solutions for growing businesses, I stress (even in my book) that technology is ONLY A TOOL. Busineses must ensure they use technology correctly.

USA Today writes Computer code foul-ups also recently held the budget hostage in Tacoma, Wash., delayed financial aid to university students in Indiana and caused retailer Ross Stores's profits to plummet 40% after a merchandise-tracking system failed.

Such disasters are often blamed on bad software, but the cause is rarely bad programming. As systems grow more complicated, failures instead have far less technical explanations: bad management, communication or training.

"In 90% of the cases, it's because the implementer did a bad job, training was bad, the whole project was poorly done," said Joshua Greenbaum, principal analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley. "At which point, you have a real garbage in, garbage out problem."

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