Don’t blame RBS for its failure, most of you have made the same decisions

“For decades, RBS failed to invest properly in its systems.”

This further breakdown may come as a shock to RBS customers and instill a sense of smugness elsewhere but be very, very, careful, ask any IT consultant if this is surprising news and not only will they not be surprised they will be shocked it doesn’t happen more often.

He went on “We need to put our customers’ needs at the centre of all we do. It will take time, but we are investing heavily in building IT systems our customers can rely on”

I would take a bet that 99.9% of IT spend is done like this, we are always having to backtrack our proposals to a lower cost, and usually the more expensive the cars outside the lower the IT spend in proportion to the turnover of the company.

The major interest of anyone spending anything on IT is not “will it do the job now and in five years?” but how much can we trim down the price to get it something more reasonable?

When was the last time a Director thought “I want that MERCEDES / LEXUS/ PORSCHE/ MASERATI outside my office but I will go for a lower price model because it will do the same and I don’t need everything that it offers and I will save money, I will go for Ford Focus Cmax instead?

There seems to be two misconceptions. 1. It is always more expensive than it should be and 2. They are trying to make as much out of me as they can. Let me blow the myths away for us, and our fellow consultants (the good ones not the ones who are guessing). It will be the price it is, you get what you pay for, Everyone is trying to make as much as they can to survive and thrive, but not at your expense. If the Answer is £5,000 why should I say £7,000? I am less likely to get the business and why overspecify, unless I don’t know my job. However if I say £3,000 then that, in your mind will be too much and we start again..

Imagine you have had a heart attack and the Consultant tells you its going to cost £5,000 to make you better, would you say “You’re wrong, I only want to spend £3,000, give me a cheaper part and budget operation” . Of course you would, wouldn’t you, you don’t value yourself do you? Wrong, you’d soon find the extra dosh.

So why jeopardise your business health? Find someone you can trust and take their advice, that’s the hard part isn’t it – trust? Do your clients trust you? or will they be like RBS customers and go elsewhere when the service drops because the IT breaks, never mind you did buy the MERCEDES / LEXUS/ PORSCHE/ MASERATI because you needed it and it was the right decision at the right price, didn’t you?