Jeff Gainer's CRITICAL PATH
Reengineering IT
By Jeff Gainer
December 2, 1997
Jeff Gainer examines the role IT plays in Reengineering efforts
Redefining Reengineering:
Since the publication of Reengineering the Corporation, the term
"reengineering" has been imbued with so many erroneous meanings that
it is now difficult to remember the true goals of reengineering. The
first popular fallacy about reengineering was that it was synonymous
with downsizing. The newest fallacy is that reengineering is
synonymous with the introduction of new information technology.
Reengineering is no more about downsizing than it is about blindly
adopting new technologies without sound business reasons.
Reengineering does involve using information in new ways-and IT can
often provide a vehicle for doing so. But merely deploying new
technology is not reengineering.
The IT Reengineering Paradox:
Just as it is not synonymous with downsizing, reengineering is not
merely throwing information technology funds at business problems
as if "reengineering IT" will magically fix all of an
organization's ills. The sad fact is that without critically
redesigning a business' processes first, a "reengineering" effort
serves only to automate the old broken processes. As Hammer and
Champy observed, "The fundamental error that most companies commit
when they look at technology is to view it through the lens of
their existing processes."
The Role of IT:
It is a natural fit for IT professionals to take an active role in
reengineering efforts. Information systems are not a panacea for
business ills, but an enabling technology for nonlinear,
nonsequential reengineering solutions. Prior the introduction of
new technologies, we must fully define the abstract principals
underlying the business. It is at this early stage that IT
professionals can help create the essential culture of breakthrough
thinking necessary to reengineer business processes. The purpose of
reengineering-and IT's role in it-is to transform ideas about
existing processes, not to merely streamline existing ideas.
Otherwise, we're just speeding up the same old broken processes.
Known in some circles as "Jeff the Evangelist," Jeff Gainer thinks and writes about the state of information technology and process improvement from his office in Colorado, aircraft cabins, and the back seats of Lincoln Town Cars and limousines. Mr. Gainer's latest musings appear in the January edition of Cutter IT Journal, where he discusses the possibilities of "The Coming Backlash: Twilight of the Gods?"
Copyright © 1997, Jeff Gainer, All Rights Reserved.
gainerj@jeffgainer.com
Jeff Gainer's Bio
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