Gil Nizri, CEO
DBmaestro, a world leader in database release automation
Abandoned self-made applications, eroding monumental in-house projects and solutions – the legacy IT infrastructure is littered with costly and allegedly-functional elements. These megastructures cost several hundred thousand (sometimes several million) dollars to build.
The fate of software projects born in sin (hastily planned to address urgent demand), in history illustrates how promising growth-driven projects can turn into painfully expensive disappointments.
From the IT team’s view, it may seem that the outdated pieces in their solution portfolio happened just because they couldn’t invest enough in these areas. But the counterintuitive truth is that putting more dollars behind software projects generally doesn’t guarantee good results, yet it has a large influence on the number of white elephant projects.
White elephants are unintentionally made but have a continuous influence on IT budget and resource allocation, and disrupt the IT’s wellbeing.
Software white elephants are often born when a new demand for a specific functionality/tool arises and triggers the most common IT dilemma of build-Vs-Buy, and how to pick the right options.
Many software ventures are under-assessed and express a positive approach that seems taken from the famous Dalai Lama’s quote: “Optimism doesn’t mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation. It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise.”
Shortly, the enthusiasm from the fresh and exciting initiative is replaced with frustration derived from meeting more realistic hands-on experience about the workload, knowledge gaps, and complexity that often characterizes software projects.
How to save your software from becoming a white elephant?
Preventing occurrences of software white elephants requires having a clear understanding of what the business wants and what its needs are. Insufficient understanding of the technology as well as the availability of in-house domain expert(s) should vocally signal the upcoming potential of trouble and failure.
In IT, projects are often seen as “one and done”, but that’s not always the case. Actually, some projects may be so complex that they require multiple iterations, modifications, and, ongoing maintenance. With the ever-changing business requirement(s) many are rarely finalized.
Nevertheless, software white elephants should not be accepted and acknowledged as a lifetime destiny. In fact, in many cases rolling back the in-house development and replacing it with an off-the-shelf product enables setting the appropriate foundation serving the company needs faster, safer, and IT hassle-free.
How can DBmaestro help with software white elephants?
DBmaestro, a leading database release automation solution actively helps companies with turning a costly, in-house tailored or open-source-based database change management venture into a powerful useable solution. DBmaestro has over 15 years of domain expertise and hands-on experience in all database DevSecOps aspects. DBmaestro’s database release automation platform applies best-of-breed database management and DevOps best practices.
We guarantee apparent value contribution within a few months and with a minimal cost.
Schedule a meeting today: sales@dbmaestro.com
