In an interview with Vivek Ranadive, CEO of Tibco Software, he articulates the “Is Enterprise Software Failing The Innovation Test? « The Future of Software” problem. It offers an interesting insight into what he calls “extortionist database architecture”.
The mother of all databases, the relational database, is at the center of everything, which is why prices of databases have stayed the same. Then we’ve got these silos on top of the database — the enterprise resource planning (ERP) silos — which is just more extortion because you need a $100 million SAP implementation to make it work. Then you’ve got this tool called “business intelligence,” sitting on top of the ERP, which is oxymoronic because it’s only a reporting system – meaning it delivers information about what’s happened to your business after the fact, when it’s too late for you to do anything about it, so it’s not really “intelligence” at all. And then you’ve got these incredibly expensive service and consulting companies who try to make this legacy stack work. Put it all together and you’ve got a three-layered conspiracy of aligned interests to extort money from your company, which prevents incentives to innovate.
Something about this interview really hit home with me. Innovation within Enterprise Software has become a chicken or the egg conundrum. Because the technologies described above are so deeply ingrained in the resumes and job descriptions of IT hallways, innovation (or change) is met with tremendous skepticism, and outright fear. Therefore, Enterprise Software providers continue to create technology that IT is familiar and comfortable with. Who tips the balance first – the Enterprise Software provider that creates the next “great thing”, or the IT department who breaks out of the mold and demands innovation?
Filed under: Innovation | Tagged: Enterprise Software, Innovation, Tibco Software, Vivek Ranadive
