sexy SAP analytics

Just recently I read a comment from a fellow consultant on Twitter. He is mocking his client about their statement that the SAP LIS graphics are not sexy. "I suspect these managers should rather be focusing on the gruesomeness of their inventory levels, rather than “sexiness” of the SAP graphics!", he continues his judgmental ranting.

Really?, I am asking. Is that your idea of using the world's best operations management system? Doing analysis with graphics that look like Keith Richards would have used them in his early school years?

I am sorry, but I have to sympathize with the client. They are absolutely right to ask for a better tool and it is our (the consultants) responsibility to improve on the tools that our clients use. And yes: those tools should have some "sexiness" too! After all we are living in a new world (remember, the Mayan calendar has ended) and one of the important aptitudes of the new age is 'design'! (see my blog about Daniel Pink's Six Aptitudes). There are many better ways to analyze with standard SAP tools and beyond (I have written a number of blogs on the subject and will continue to do so).

In the end it comes down to what our job as a consultant is. It certainly is not to mock the client about wanting the best there is (I should note that the mocker himself ONLY knows the LIS from all the functions in SAP and therefore I understand his defense - but I do not support it). We consultants get around and we see many things. The good ones learn something new every day and aren't afraid to share it widely. The bad ones stick with what they know and mock any progress and the slightest possibility that what was good yesterday might not be so good (for our clients) today.


...and what's wrong with some sexiness in our otherwise prude subject matter?