More often than not, when I’m writing the monthly “here’s what we were talking about ten years ago” edition of the newsletter I’m tempted to lead with the French proverb “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” which means the more things change the more they stay the same. Happily (at least for the sake of variety) that’s not true for this issue.
Here’s what I wrote in November, 2000:
“Is it time to stop talking about the directory? You know it, I know it: mention directory services and line-of-business execs glaze over within two minutes. To them a directory is the telephone white pages, and that’s just not very sexy in this whiz-bang, dot-com, sock-puppet, bingo-bango marketplace that’s today’s business.
“So what do you do? You don’t mention the directory, that’s what. You talk about security and authentication. You talk about CRM and value chains. Slide in a touch of digital persona. Above all, talk about applications and services – what you’re selling and how you sell it.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a client or your boss your talking to, you still need to sell and its easier, as any old-line salesman will tell you, to sell sizzle than it is to sell steak.”
One think has dramatically changed since then, and it’s that the IT department is no longer the leader when it comes to bringing in new applications and services. It’s marketing, sales, finance and even HR that is clamoring for new apps, especially when it comes to cloud-based services. More than ever, IT needs to talk about the importance of identity services (represented by the directory in our discussions 10 years ago) to make those new apps viable, efficient and secure.
Of course, one thing really hasn’t changed – the business folk still glaze over when we bring up identity services. So it’s imperative that IT people be on the cutting edge of new service offerings, and partner with the line-of-business innovators so that they can have input into the strategic architecture of the new services, the “plumbing,” so to speak. Because an example I used in 2000 still works:
“Take a look at the Delta Faucet website. Notice their catchphrase? “Style. Innovation. Beauty…that lasts.” Its not the PVC (or even the copper) pipe they’re talking about, but those beautiful fixtures. But if you buy the fixtures (because they’ll last, or just because they’re sexy) you also need to have the PVC or copper tubing in place to carry the water to the fixture.”
It’s the same with identity services – sell the sexy parts and the plumbing gets taken along for the ride.
