The "Hollywood" Model for Software Success
Software vendors can improve their competitiveness and bottom line by adopting a "Project Workforce" approach.
By Rudolf Melik, Tenrox
Aug. 13, 2007
Hollywood producers must find it frustrating that an amateur YouTube video can attract a bigger audience than a studio blockbuster with a multi-million dollar budget. The same dynamic has taken over the software industry: a startup with a few people can compete for enterprise business with multi-billion-dollar mega vendors.
To stay competitive, mid-sized and large vendors can fight back against more nimble startups by adopting a "Project Workforce" approach. Software vendors can improve their agility and competitive edge by breaking down internal barriers and improving collaboration.
A Level Playing Field
Making movies has long been a project-based endeavor which assembles a group of passionate experts for a specified period of time to complete a film. Some are blockbusters and some are flops. But the artistic nature of filmmaking, and the fickle nature of moviegoers, has always meant that a small time filmmaker can take on 20th Century Fox at the box office - and win.
The "level playing field" of moviemaking has not historically been present in the software industry. Large enterprises purchased software from equally large software vendors who were perceived to be the best companies to serve their needs.
Now, as Thomas Friedman says, "The World is Flat." Software startups leverage new technologies, outsourced resources and disruptive business models to deliver legacy free solutions that are competitive to or even better than that of incumbent vendors. These small companies often work much more quickly and efficiently than their larger competitors.
Just as in Hollywood, today's software development process is project based: a team of experts is assembled, the product is built and the team is redeployed to attack a new challenge. I call this nimble, goal-based, collaborative workforce the "Project Workforce."
Software vendors who want to improve their ability to compete in today's global marketplace, should consider adopting the tools and disciplines which make up the Project Workforce philosophy.
The following strategies are just a few considerations for companies wishing to take the road to a Project Workforce-based organization.
To stay competitive, mid-sized and large vendors can fight back against more nimble startups by adopting a "Project Workforce" approach. Software vendors can improve their agility and competitive edge by breaking down internal barriers and improving collaboration.
A Level Playing Field
Making movies has long been a project-based endeavor which assembles a group of passionate experts for a specified period of time to complete a film. Some are blockbusters and some are flops. But the artistic nature of filmmaking, and the fickle nature of moviegoers, has always meant that a small time filmmaker can take on 20th Century Fox at the box office - and win.
The "level playing field" of moviemaking has not historically been present in the software industry. Large enterprises purchased software from equally large software vendors who were perceived to be the best companies to serve their needs.
Now, as Thomas Friedman says, "The World is Flat." Software startups leverage new technologies, outsourced resources and disruptive business models to deliver legacy free solutions that are competitive to or even better than that of incumbent vendors. These small companies often work much more quickly and efficiently than their larger competitors.
Just as in Hollywood, today's software development process is project based: a team of experts is assembled, the product is built and the team is redeployed to attack a new challenge. I call this nimble, goal-based, collaborative workforce the "Project Workforce."
Software vendors who want to improve their ability to compete in today's global marketplace, should consider adopting the tools and disciplines which make up the Project Workforce philosophy.
The following strategies are just a few considerations for companies wishing to take the road to a Project Workforce-based organization.
- Look at Business as a Set of Processes
Business Process Management (BPM) was created as a tool for software developers or IT executives. It hasn't historically been used as a tool that other enterprise software businesspeople can use to solve their problems.
But BPM applies to all business processes - not just technology processes. Think about time and expense tracking, project planning, issue management, invoice approval, for example. All of these tasks involve the same things: work assignments, alerts, document delivery, and, integration into other systems such as financial reporting or payroll.
Today, as individual groups manage these tasks through spreadsheets and disconnected applications and solve each problem one at a time. The result is a number of applications that don't communicate with each other in real-time and therefore, mission critical information is never in the hands of the right people - whether a member of the executive team or a salesperson in the field.
Treating all business tasks as processes enables the company to perform the jobs across the organization in a standardized, collaborative and communicative way - and it delivers key information to the right people in the company in real time.
-
