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Thanks for the article, but as a person that knows next to nothing about the logistics, I'd like to read more about the topic. For example, what kind/types of s

by iyn 11y ago

Thanks for the article, but as a person that knows next to nothing about the logistics, I'd like to read more about the topic. For example, what kind/types of software company such as DHL uses? What are the biggest problems (I guess complexity is high on the list) in improving its software side? What could be some creative solutions to this 'software fail'?

throwaway_xx9 11y ago
Most enterprise projects fail, either in terms of budget, time or functionality. Pretty much any telephone billing system is late or shelved, for example. In this case, you have a shipping conglomerate with divisions that can't talk to each other.
- contingencies 11y ago
  Have more confidence to comment on your real account, it's good to see people making sweeping generalizations based upon personal experience! People who can present and back opinions are valuable. None of this anonymous cog-in-wheel stuff. Incidentally, if you think they're all late or shelved, and have some experience with them, I'd consider combining forces to develop and market a new one. I have prior multilingual call-center development experience (hardware, SIP, fax, in+outbound, reporting, customer ID from caller ID, etc.) and extensive finance experience.
bdz 11y ago
SAP what else http://www.pcworld.com/article/3010156/sap-dont-blame-us-for-dhls-ailing-logistics-system.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3010156/sap-dont-blame-us-for... Actually I don't even know how SAP became so popular it's horrible
- coleca 11y ago
  Oracle ERP is just as bad. At $job-2 they spend $500m and 5 years to get zero modules of Oracle Retail installed and eventually decided to just continue on with the mainframe legacy systems. The latest Software Engineering Radio has an excellent discussion of the topic of large scale IT failure aka black swans: http://www.se-radio.net/2016/02/se-radio-epislode-250-jurgen-laartz-and-alexander-budzier-on-why-large-it-projects-fail/ http://www.se-radio.net/2016/02/se-radio-epislode-250-jurgen...
  - cat-dev-null 11y ago
    LMAO. A similar situation happened at Stanford about 10 years ago ($150-200MM usd frittered away). Projects ran by vampiric consultants whom bill hourly -> "big deliverable never" -> ~ gigabuck$. Smart tech buyers don't get locked into unbounded contracts without milestones and don't let drivers of project management to an external party. Instead, focus on customer need driven, fixed contracts and incremental milestones are generally a better approach. SAP/Oracle/PeopleSoft/BMC/etc. implementations often tend to fall into these traps when they're poorly managed and/or when the buyers are suckers. Business unit owners and IT managers with backbones are needed to hold vendors accountable to deliver on promises, milestones and deadlines, or payment is not disbursed.
- JBReefer 11y ago
  Support contracts and beautiful sales people, same as Accenture
- cm2187 11y ago
  My guess is the "no CTO got sacked for choosing SAP" marketing. Business people are rightly scared of large IT projects, and SAP is the safe, german way. The other thing is that SAP does not (or at least did not) offer consulting services / configuring their software, they just sell the software, unlike most of their competitors. What it means is that all of the IT consultants will tend to push clients to choose SAP vs a competitor because it means more business for themselves. That's from my experience 10y ago, I don't know if it's still the case.

by iyn 11y ago

throwaway_xx9 11y ago

Most enterprise projects fail, either in terms of budget, time or functionality. Pretty much any telephone billing system is late or shelved, for example. In this case, you have a shipping conglomerate with divisions that can't talk to each other.

contingencies 11y ago
Have more confidence to comment on your real account, it's good to see people making sweeping generalizations based upon personal experience! People who can present and back opinions are valuable. None of this anonymous cog-in-wheel stuff. Incidentally, if you think they're all late or shelved, and have some experience with them, I'd consider combining forces to develop and market a new one. I have prior multilingual call-center development experience (hardware, SIP, fax, in+outbound, reporting, customer ID from caller ID, etc.) and extensive finance experience.

bdz 11y ago

SAP what else http://www.pcworld.com/article/3010156/sap-dont-blame-us-for-dhls-ailing-logistics-system.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3010156/sap-dont-blame-us-for... Actually I don't even know how SAP became so popular it's horrible

coleca 11y ago
Oracle ERP is just as bad. At $job-2 they spend $500m and 5 years to get zero modules of Oracle Retail installed and eventually decided to just continue on with the mainframe legacy systems. The latest Software Engineering Radio has an excellent discussion of the topic of large scale IT failure aka black swans: http://www.se-radio.net/2016/02/se-radio-epislode-250-jurgen-laartz-and-alexander-budzier-on-why-large-it-projects-fail/ http://www.se-radio.net/2016/02/se-radio-epislode-250-jurgen...
- cat-dev-null 11y ago
  LMAO. A similar situation happened at Stanford about 10 years ago ($150-200MM usd frittered away). Projects ran by vampiric consultants whom bill hourly -> "big deliverable never" -> ~ gigabuck$. Smart tech buyers don't get locked into unbounded contracts without milestones and don't let drivers of project management to an external party. Instead, focus on customer need driven, fixed contracts and incremental milestones are generally a better approach. SAP/Oracle/PeopleSoft/BMC/etc. implementations often tend to fall into these traps when they're poorly managed and/or when the buyers are suckers. Business unit owners and IT managers with backbones are needed to hold vendors accountable to deliver on promises, milestones and deadlines, or payment is not disbursed.
JBReefer 11y ago
Support contracts and beautiful sales people, same as Accenture
cm2187 11y ago
My guess is the "no CTO got sacked for choosing SAP" marketing. Business people are rightly scared of large IT projects, and SAP is the safe, german way. The other thing is that SAP does not (or at least did not) offer consulting services / configuring their software, they just sell the software, unlike most of their competitors. What it means is that all of the IT consultants will tend to push clients to choose SAP vs a competitor because it means more business for themselves. That's from my experience 10y ago, I don't know if it's still the case.