'Much ado about acronyms' Allan Behrens

IT vendors can only make money, Cambashi Partner Allan Behrens told the seminar, "by helping customers make money themselves."

Instead, too many vendors take refuge in jargon and acronyms. Most are unnecessary. Behrens says research in senior boardrooms about "PLM" found that "most [directors] didn't know what it meant." When offered a definition, one retorted: "Why on earth would you want to create an acronym for that, it's so obvious?"

"We should be talking the same language as our customers," Behrens advises. But overuse of jargon is just one customer complaint. Others include failure to integrate; too much need for customisation; unnecessary functionality; and over-selling.

"They will spend significant amounts of money with people that will help them meet their business needs. But what we must do is help them to do it the way that they want to do it, and not the way we want to do it," Behrens concludes.

back to top