Business and IT are growing farther apart

Is GigaFood still able to keep up with the competition?

In the previous episode of the Hybrid Cloud Graphic Novel, you have seen the story about the fictional company GigaFood unfold. It stars sales champion Polly Perfect and IT nerd Bob Fasthack as main protagonists and a sprawling data center as the bad guy. Polly struggled to comply with all of her customers’ preferences. She wants to achieve so much more than the systems can handle. Inefficiency on every side and annoyance through the roof! She blames IT for all of that – and especially Bob. Now if she would have provided a clear overview of all orders per period, her clients’s preferences, or projected trends... In turn, Bob is having difficulty with Polly. Who does she think she is? Does she really think that he has time to spare to solve her petty issues on top of his own workload? He is already buried knee-deep in putting out all the IT fires involving updates, security and compliance. How will this end?

In this episode, the drama continues to unfold. Is it too late to prevent GigaFood from suffering a complete IT collapse, or can Polly and Bob still turn back the tide?

Here at GigaFood’s sales department, the general atmosphere is not good at all. Polly sees they are being swept away by the latest generation of competitors with their web shops and mobile apps. Even the traditional powerhouses in the retail sector have changed their course to Mobile, Analytics, and Big Data. Meanwhile, GigaFood is desperately trying to keep their customers on board as much as they can, but they are fighting an uphill battle. ‘How can I change anything if I don’t know why customers are going elsewhere?’ Polly exclaims. ‘I also want to identify patterns in my customer orders. Then at least I can ensure that the sales figures will not plummet immediately. If Bob won’t help me, I will Google a solution myself!’

Bob is at his wit’s end. Polly wants this, Polly wants that. And he most certainly doesn’t want some kind of shadow IT. He has more than enough trouble just keeping his own data center up and running, let alone having the time to help Polly with advice about new apps. We don’t even have the budget for it! Dropping sales have led to budget cuts in IT. ‘When it rains, it pours,’ Bob reflects. ‘And the entire company considers IT a useless cost already.’

Polly sees sales keep dropping. ‘I want to do something with Mobile and Big Data too! Why can’t we take the leap to web-based?’ Meanwhile, Bob tries to keep everything up and running at the same time. ‘Come on, lady, there is only so much I can do here. And this outdated IT environment is what we have to work with. And boy, do I feel a headache coming on!’

As their competitors’ head start keeps increasing, Polly and Bob are mainly busy blaming each other. IT and business are only growing further apart. Can GigaFood change their course? Find out in the next episode.

And if you can´t wait for the next episode and want to start now transforming your business in a hybrid IT environment, register for BusinessConnect and read IBM´s Hybrid Cloud for Dummies ebook.