InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
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July 31, 2000 |
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Secret CIO:
Selling Around The CIO
Complaining about vendor end runs isn't the way to avoid them
major irritant in a CIO's life is the salesperson who directly peddles his particular brand of technical salvation to your users in the hope that he'll pressure you into buying his product. This time-honored technique, called "selling around the CIO," deserves its own special niche in Dante's Inferno because of the time and effort that it costs an IT organization. In all fairness, sometimes this ploy exposes a good solution that you've missed, but if that happens more than once, the IT organization deserves careful scrutiny because it isn't doing its job.What's especially annoying is that vendors, large and small, consider this approach to be an appropriate sales style, even if you always give them every possible consideration. I've seen IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and many others practice it at one time or another. The only difference is whether the pitch to the user is, "As an important businessperson, I think you should know directly about our product" or "Your stupid IT group refuses to listen to this great solution." Alas, the latter is more prevalent than the former.
So the question arises, what do you do when you find out that a major division in your company has just seen a new system--one it's told will solve all of its problems and can be implemented easily and cheaply if the IT people would only cooperate?
As far as I can tell, you have three options.
The first is to explain all of the technical deficiencies in the vendor's product. However, this very logical approach usually doesn't work. The fact that the vendor's software randomly crashes your network won't perturb the champions of this next great leap forward. All it shows is how incompetent and unsupportive you are. When informed of your concerns, the salesperson will smile and say, "I knew IT would use an excuse like that."
Another alternative is to complain to the vendor about his sales tactics. Bad move. Whatever you imply about trust and never again buying from him will be embellished on and repeated to the prospective user. You're now in a position of taking it personally, and the vendor can--and will--say to your beloved business partner, "You know, I had only your company's best interest in mind when I showed you the benefits of the tools available to your competition, but your CIO seems bent on controlling what you can buy, so I guess I should just fade into the distance." Of course there's no intention of doing said fading, but it guarantees that you'll be behind the corporate eight ball. No, this method is also fraught with peril.
Finally, there's the "you deserve our attention" approach. It's the one I like best. Express your chagrin to your esteemed colleague about having ignored a potentially good solution to his problems. (By the way, one virtue of this response is that it may actually be true.) Then, call a meeting with the user and the vendor at which you ooze cooperation. After everyone is relaxed and has agreed upon an evaluation, make absolutely sure to comment mournfully that progress would have been faster if the vendor had involved the IT people from the start. If your folks were involved, comment mournfully that progress would have been faster if the vendor had resolved some key questions from the IT people. Got the message?
Next, pick a competent, assertive newcomer to study the product. Can you think of a better assignment for a bright young analyst? He or she might learn something, and it can't hurt anything. Besides, if the vendor's solution is actually good and your folks missed something, you'll have fresh talent to draw on in the future.
After the problem is just a fading memory, have a long and liquid lunch with the vendor at which you never cease smiling as you point out how ... inefficient going around the CIO is. Explain how you hated to see the hard feelings that developed, and casually mention that you know he agrees since future purchases can generate commissions. You might even want to have those revenue numbers memorized because, for sure, your salesperson does.
Oh, and don't be surprised if you're the recipient of better cooperation in the future.
Herbert W. Lovelace shares his experiences (changing most names, including his own, to protect the guilty) as CIO of a multibillion-dollar international company. Send him E-mail at lovelace@home.com, and read his online column, "Ask The Secret CIO", where he will provide real--and sometimes whimsical--answers to your questions.
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