Building Successful Information Systems

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

When I’m hired by a company as a consultant, the first question I generally ask is “What do you do?” What percentage of companies do you think can answer that question accurately?

The reality is that only about 50 percent of the companies I ask can accurately describe what they do. Notice I don’t ask them “What do you make?” Most companies when I say “What do you do?” will answer with “We make this.” However, that is not the question I am asking. Consequently, a conversation with a typical employee (entry level to CEO) might go like this.

Me:	What do you do?
Employee:	What do you mean “what do we do”?
Me:	Well, you come to work, right?
Employee:	Yeah.
Me:	What do you do?
Employee:	Well I take this product and ...