Word or Notepad
As part of a package selection and fitment exercise for a client, we are discussing business value from delivered functionality and the costs of implementing a package v/s building custom functionality, and the strategic aspects of going one way or the other.
A package costs a certain amount of money (sometimes a lot) to buy and implement and delivers certain functionality (usually a lot, if the package has the right fit). While a custom built solution will be more aligned with current business needs, it may be prohibitive trying to build functionality that's already available in a package. However, the business' needs and direction are an important factor in this decision. That's where the title of this piece comes in.
Let's assume the business wants something to do word processing. However, all they do now is type out stuff in plain text and print it. They may, in the future want the ability to format and add graphics and other fancy stuff, but currently plain text is all they do. At this point all they need is Notepad. It may actually be cheaper to build a simple Notepad kind of application rather than buy a Word license. However...
However, if the business knows and have a valid business case for doing the fancy graphics work in the near future, it may make more sense to get Word now, maybe use it for the text stuff, while the systems are ready for the business when they get around to using it. The other aspect of this is that, maybe, just maybe, they are only doing Notepad stuff since that's all their current tools allow them to do.
I use Notepad here as a metaphor of something with very specific functionality that delivers a certain value. I use Word as a metaphor for a more flexible solution that albeit more costly to buy and implement, gives more functionality, and consequently higher value. Also, as people using Notepad and Word would have seen, it's more likely that Word would get enhanced functionality in line with latest market trends and requirements, whereas incremental changes to home grown Notepad over time will increase the total cost of ownership and start edging it's costs closer to Word.
This is not to say that there is no need for Notepad. When it's very clear as to what's required, and Notepad achieves it, Notepad is all that is required.
Unfortunately, businesses (however much they like to talk in strategy terms) can't really know what they will want in X years. They may know today that they want something in X years. However, no business can predict what they might want when the Xth year comes along. So, it's imperative that for core business, businesses look at it from a "we don't know what our strategy will be in X years" point of view. And the moment you do that the "Words" of the world seem increasingly attractive.
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