And I tend to sell "Value Networks", Harvard Business School to sell "SOA". One thing I would caution people on when using Amazon and Google (and I say that as someone who knows them quite well) as references into older companies, sometimes you will get the following conversation (a paraphrase of one I heard once)
Keen Techy Bloke: We should be changing our IT to be more like Google and Amazon Exec: Why? KTB: Because they use the web to make their IT more flexible and scalable Exec: We've got a website KTB: Yes but they really _use_ the web and it makes their IT more flexible Exec: Isn't that because they are web companies selling web things? KTB: Yes, but we could do it to their IT is much more flexible and scalable than ours Exec: Yes and <Oil Major> makes more profits than us so I suppose you are suggesting we should get drilling KTB: Err no Exec: Then why are you suggesting that the IT for a company whose business model is based all around the Web will be right for someone who makes X? KTB: Because it will give us flexibility and scalability Exec: And oil would give us massive profits, we aren't <Oil Major> and we aren't Google or Amazon, I want to hear solutions to _our_ problems not solutions to theirs Fortunately for me this set me up nicely to understand the mindset of the Exec but it did make me realise that while people in IT might look at Amazon and Google and gasp in amazement, there are people out there who are much more likely to think of that as "shiny stuff that doesn't apply to me". Just a friendly warning. Steve 2009/1/10 Anne Thomas Manes <[email protected]>: > Exactly my point. You don't sell SOA or REST to an executive. Even the > Web is a tough sell. What you sell them is the Amazon/Google IT > operational model (at least in the case of Bechtel). > > Anne > > On 1/9/09, Nick Gall <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 7:31 AM, Anne Thomas Manes <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> >>> Tell me how you should sell REST to an executive. As I've said, trying >>> to sell an architectural concept is a bad idea. >> >> You don't sell REST to an executive, you sell the Web. It sound's like >> that's what >> >> Bechtel<http://www.networkworld.com/cgi-bin/mailto/x.cgi?pagetosend=/export/home/httpd/htdocs/news/2008/102908-bechtel.html&pagename=/news/2008/102908-bechtel.html&pageurl=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/102908-bechtel.html&site=software>did >> in the article you cite in your blog post: >> >> - If you could build your IT systems and operation from scratch today, >> would you recreate what you have? ... The question-- and the industry >> benchmarking exercise that followed -- prompted Bechtel to transform its >> IT >> department and model it after Internet front-runners YouTube, Google, >> Amazon.com and Salesforce.com. >> - With its benchmarking data in hand, Bechtel decided to revamp its IS&T >> operations to model itself as closely as possible after the SaaS model >> pioneered by these four Internet leaders. >> - Bechtel's employees are demanding business software that is as >> intuitive as popular Web sites. >> - Ramleth likens Bechtel's security strategy to Amazon.com's approach. >> With Amazon.com, users can browse freely and security is applied when a >> purchase is made. Similarly, Bechtel is trying to create Web applications >> that apply security only when needed. >> - Bechtel started its transformation by trying to figure out how to >> revamp its software applications to operate more like leading Web sites. >> But >> what Bechtel discovered is that it had to fix the underlying IT >> infrastructure -- including data centers and networks -- before it could >> change its applications. "Not only do you have to solve the IT >> architecture >> and the way you operate it, but you have to make sure that IT is >> accommodating Web applications that can operate more in an Internet mode >> than in an intranet mode," Ramleth explains. >> >> >> -- Nick >> >
