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Why Enterprise Software Sucks

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Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#321

Post by fdjlasdfjl »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #20

I think this gets it wrong. The real reason enterprise software sucks is that enterprises have complex and unique workflows and would prefer to buy software that they can fit to their workflow rather than change the workflows of their profitable business with tens of thousands of staff who will need retraining. If you look at all of the most successful software of all time they are the complete antithesis of the Unix…

Every company does not need bespoke accounting software. Its much more efficient to drop in an enterprise product and re-train the organization.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#323

Post by nitwit005 »

vfc1 wrote: post #9

Pretty true. For example, some of the worst applications I have ever used are by far timesheet applications. It's a product with a completely captive audience, that cannot go to the competition. If you don't fill your timesheet, you don't get paid its that simple. Typically these are either built-in house, or are an expensive third party product with terrible usability, bought by managers who might not even have to u…

Sadly, this isn't pessimistic enough. Many of us have experienced having to fill out multiple timesheets in different apps.

Fill out company timesheet, connect to big-company VPN, log into their site, fill out timesheet there. Because creating an integration requires both companies working together, which obviously isn't going to happen.

I recommend learning to use webdriver to automate things if you ever have to do this. It'll likely be a net time loss, but you'll feel better about things.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#324

Post by aeorgnoieang »

lmm wrote: post #253
ibejoeb wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they’re glorified custom development shops with a few high paying customers That's true, but sort of necessarily so, though. How else do you build a product that meets such a broad set of needs? Someone's got to do the work. At some point, features are going to drop linearly.

A lot of the time the client would be better off buying actual custom software. It's very easy to end up with a SAP (say) "configuration" so complex that you'll spend more on maintenance than you would if it were a standalone program.

That's very true but still, in my experience anyways, it's much easier (i.e. perceived as 'less risky') to buy SAP and attempt to roll it out than to convince others that custom software would be better.

'Custom' is scary in a way that 'customizable' isn't.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#325

Post by kragen »

untog wrote: post #293
kragen wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In four lines you manage to be arrogant, insulting, patronizing, and intellectually sloppy (“by definition”?) I'm disappointed. I'd like to invite you to produce a higher level of discourse.

...you can't be serious. This is an incredibly over the top reaction to a very mild reply. Not to mention that telling me you're disappointed in me and inviting me to "produce a higher level of discourse" is far more arrogant and patronising than anything in my original statement. But anyway, this is very obviously off-topic. I don't think it serves the wider community to continue this conversation so I'll leave it h…

Well, I'm certainly guilty of the same offense!

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#326

Post by tw04 »

ridaj wrote: post #152
freddie_mercury wrote: post #20

I think this gets it wrong. The real reason enterprise software sucks is that enterprises have complex and unique workflows and would prefer to buy software that they can fit to their workflow rather than change the workflows of their profitable business with tens of thousands of staff who will need retraining. If you look at all of the most successful software of all time they are the complete antithesis of the Unix…

No, this does completely get it right. Enterprises thought they needed all the control and security features of Blackberry until the iPhone came along and made the UX gap unsustainable. Enterprises thought they needed on-premise hosting of Exchange, Office and SharePoint instances under their control for email and productivity, until GSuite came up with a better, less configurable user experience based on consumer fe…

>No, this does completely get it right. Enterprises thought they needed all the control and security features of Blackberry until the iPhone came along and made the UX gap unsustainable.

The iPhone took almost a decade to get to the appropriate functionality. The part you're leaving out is most executives just ended up carrying two devices and whined to IT about "why can't YOU make my iphone as good at email as my blackberry???"

>Enterprises thought they needed on-premise hosting of Exchange, Office and SharePoint instances under their control for email and productivity, until GSuite came up with a better, less configurable user

Except I can count on one hand the number of fortune 500 enterprises that moved to gsuite over o365.

>Slack is another proof point - the "consumerization of IT" trend in general.

I'm not even sure how this is relevant. Companies that were using skype for business or cisco jabber likely still have skype/jabber running alongside Slack.

This reads like someone who lives in the valley and thinks the valley is in any way reflective of corporate America. Hint: It's not.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#327

Post by dentemple »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #296
rrdharan wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually do probably need your IT department to approve your use of Basecamp and Trello. It's very easy for project management and tracking tools to accommodate sensitive information like pending deals, new launches, or even PII. Your IT department probably isn't happy about rogue usage of external/third-party tools for storing data that they haven't properly tracked and can't wipeout or revoke if you quit. Wheth…

Shadow IT will always be created when the existing system or IT group can't or won't support the users' needs (imagined or not).

A good rule of thumb is, if you think your doesn't need Shadow IT, it means you're not already part of your company's Shadow IT circle.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#328

Post by proc0 »

All stated reasons are valid, however in the software industry, IMHO, the #1 reason is because in many companies, if not most, the people writing the code are not the people making decisions. It's also easy to see that it's the most successful ones that are lead largely by advanced technical people. From my experience it seems there is always a tension between how highly technical people and the business people make decisions. In some cases this gap is a chasm, and the miscommunication across the technical skill gap is so bad there is a lot of wasted time, effort and money, building horrible software and prioritizing the wrong things. And even when a balance is attained, it either doesn't last long or it makes huge compromises in productivity (basically everyone is happy condoning bad software).

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#329

Post by codesforhugs »

geofft wrote: post #160
freddie_mercury wrote: post #20

I think this gets it wrong. The real reason enterprise software sucks is that enterprises have complex and unique workflows and would prefer to buy software that they can fit to their workflow rather than change the workflows of their profitable business with tens of thousands of staff who will need retraining. If you look at all of the most successful software of all time they are the complete antithesis of the Unix…

This is the exact opposite of the advice I've heard about how to successfully deploy SAP - while it is endlessly customizable and you can staff a large, doomed engineering project to customize it to fit your business, you are a lot better off adopting the workflow and processes SAP wants you to use than adapting SAP to what you've been doing internally.

Yes, that's usually what enterprises end up doing for their second SAP implementation after the first one crashes and burns.

Re: Why Enterprise Software Sucks

#330

Post by ska »

beachy wrote: post #317
shadowgovt wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's... Kind of hilarious. I'm assuming your employer has never heard of printers or copy-paste. ;)

You're thinking about this very much from a techy point of view. We have a similar value prop with our platform (we store PII including actual identity documents). It's not about making it impossible for users to download and store sensitive data. Everyone knows that that's impossible - yet somehow Snapchat and its disappearing messages is still a thing. Instead, it is intended to be coupled with policies. As long as…

This is exactly right. It doesn't stop espionage or a rogue employee - it is not supposed to; but it does stop inadvertent duplication all over the place in ways the company could be liable for due to inaction or insufficient policy around PII, etc.
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