Introduction
This book discusses how to move from a business that is not online to a business that is "fully online," including the technologies, processes, and management issues that affect the move. This is not merely a matter of technology: online operations necessitate changes in the business organization in order to support the online operation - overlooking this has been the failure of many businesses.
A word on project management: while good project management makes efficient use of resources, it does not guarantee success. By PM standards, a project is "successful" if it is completed on time and within budget, but it may still fail to provide any benefit to the business, and may do considerable harm.
What Is "Mission Critical"?
The term "mission critical" is overused: not everything that is important to a person is mission-critical for an organization. If a system fails, and the business grinds completely to a halt as a result, then it is mission critical. If it creates inefficiencies that cause permanent damage to the organization, it may be mission critical. Otherwise, it is merely "important."
(EN: I recall a source that took the extreme view is that technology is never mission-critical. Most businesses existed before computers, and while technology makes them more efficient at the task, it is still possible to do business without them. While this may be true from a functional perspective, I sense that a business that did away with technology would not be very efficient or competitive.)
Where retail operations are online, technology is mission critical. Every moment a system is down, some portion of customers will switch to your competitor rather than wait for your site to reopen, and the loss may be more than a one-time sale.
The author provides a smattering of factoids: revenue lost by major shopping sites due to outages, trading halted on major stock exchanges, people unable to access their bank accounts, delays in airline flights, and so on. In some instances, the immediate loss was measurable (and significant). In all instances, the loss of consumer confidence may have had long-term effects.
The author also cites a handful of causes.
- Primarily, businesses have become dependent on their IT systems, to the point that when the system is down, the employees are paralyzed.
- Technology is being used in many facets of the business, systems are interoperable, such that a failure in one small and seemingly insignificant system can cascade to affect other systems.
- The rate at which technology progresses means that systems and components are constantly being upgraded and replaced, and it is difficult for staff to develop familiarity with the technology upon which they depend.
- Many technologies and systems are procured in a "black box": the users (including the technical experts) understand what it is supposed to do, but have no idea how it works.
- Organizations continue to use automation as a reason to eliminate staff, such that many service-delivery businesses are operating with a skeleton staff who do not understand the business at all, only how to operate the systems.
- The use of contract workers, outsourcing labor overseas, and migration of skilled personnel within the industry, means that many businesses do not have skilled employees who are knowledgeable about the systems.
Why Is Everybody Doing It?
There are a myriad of reasons that many businesses flock to IT solutions, even when they understand the inherent risks.
- Customers demand technology, either directly (an insistence on making online purchases) or indirectly (a demand for a business to provide 24/7 access and service require automation to fill), and flock to companies that can fill this demand.
- Where there is not existing demand, the improved access ands service that technology facilitates can give a firm a competitive advantage, or at least differentiate a commoditized product (EN: at least until others catch on)
- The adoption of technology by some businesses requires its adoption by others (a wholesaler must implement an inventory system that integrates with its customers purchasing systems)
- Business has gone global, and technology helps to provide resources to and coordinate the efforts of employees in a wide range of locations.
- Speed is of the essence, and an automated task can be performed faster, with greater accuracy, by computers.
- Automation decreases costs, enabling a company to be more competitive in its pricing
- Technology enables businesses to expand their markets without the expense of personnel and facilities to provide a physical presence.
- Technology enables business to enable customer self-service, which decreases the cost of providing service to customers and, in some cases, is preferred by the customer
(EN: The author does not mention any of the various irrational reasons businesses adopt technology: customers and investors might perceive them as being dated and inefficient, top management has a fetish for it, etc.)
What Are the Different Industries Doing about On-line Operations?
The author provides an even longer list of examples of the use of technology by different industries. It's a long list of businesses, and there's scant detail provided - just enough to give the reader the sense that technology is ubiquitous. (EN: the author is not exaggerating - his examples are all plausible, and I believe most of them are factual.)
A Word of Warning
The title and description of the book are overly broad, and makes it seem like a resource about management of Web projects with an eye toward controlling variances .... but it is not.
The author speaks in greatest length and detail (and presumably the greatest authority) about mitigating risk and preparing in advance for the problems that can arise with Web services - which add to the cost and time of a project, but avoid greater cost in the long run.
I suspect the misleading title was intended to make the book seem appealing to a broader audience and thus boost its sales, or perhaps to trick people who are uninterested in risk management into buying and reading a book on a topic they should give greater attention.