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IT's Epic Fails, Just Waiting for You to
Repeat......
I would normally title this “History’s
Lessons”, but unfortunately, you know as
well as I, that History doesn’t Lesson, it
increases, for we are doomed to repeat our
own mistakes… Here, through the grace of
our own disastrous decision making
processes, are the top blunders of all time
that not only cost a fortune, but in some
cases toppled the company.
ERP: Ahhh, remember this panacea? The end all application that would save your company
tons of money and time and ferret out the inefficiencies. Try telling that to these companies:
• 2004, University of Massachusetts, Stanford and Indiana University - More than 27,000
students were not only at a loss to find their classes, but for many were unable to
collect their financial aid checks.
• 2004, HP ERP - The project eventually cost HP $160 million in order backlogs and lost
revenue—more than five times the project's estimated cost. Gilles Bouchard, then-CIO,
"We had a series of small problems, none of which individually would have been too
much to handle. But together they created the perfect storm."
• 2000, NIKE ERP - $400 million invested eventually cost them $100 million in lost sales,
20% stock drop and a boat load of class-action lawsuits. Thanks to a ill conceived plan
to marry ERP, supply chain planning with their CRM. The setback was a big black eye
for one of the United States' premier corporations that lives on as a tale of woe and
warning. Roland Wolfram, Nike's vice president of global operations and technology,
"For the people who follow this sort of thing, we became a poster child [for failed
implementations]."
• 1999, Hershey’s ERP – Promising new order-taking and distribution system prevented
Hershey from delivering $100 million in pre-Halloween confections. As a result,
Hershey “Kisses” an 8 percent stock share price goodbye Kenneth Wolf, CEO at the
time, "There is no doubt that 1999 was a difficult and disappointing year for Hershey
Foods as sales and earnings fell significantly short of our, as well as the market's,
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IT News, Served Cold with a Kick!
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expectations...this was largely the result of customer service and order fulfillment
problems stemming from the July 1999 start-up of the final phase of new business
systems and processes in these areas."
• 1998, FoxMeyer Drug ERP - Following an SAP R/3 implementation, the company's
bankruptcy trustees filed a $500 million lawsuit in 1998 against SAP, and another $500
million suit against co-implementer Andersen Consulting, claiming the companies'
software and installation efforts had contributed to the drug company's demise.
SECURITY – Let’s Just Wait and See Policy
Witty Worm: Be Afraid
A new infection appears, spreads like flu at a preschool, and then quickly evaporates. Panic,
right? Strangely, the Witty Worm struck computers just like that, but provoked barely a breath
of the usual fear mongering and teeth gnashing. This new breed of software intruder, however,
could be one of the most dangerous signs of Things To Come that we've yet seen. Witty's
numbers and methods weren't so scary. It attacked only 12,000 computers, used a common
vulnerability and arrived through a seldom necessary port. But the devil is in the details: Witty
was 100 percent effective and took down nearly every vulnerable machine on the Internet
within 45 minutes. And the software applications it attacked were security programs.
Investigators also found that Witty was "professional grade" code—not script-kiddie cat
scratchings. It infected 110 servers in its first 10 seconds, a sign of a premeditated attack, not
random noodling. Witty didn't pack much punch in its premiere, but the threat of a sequel
should have us nervous.
Blue Screen of Death: Bill Gates
No really known for their QA prowess, Microsoft experienced first-hand what it was like to be
one of its customers. During an attempted demo of the not-yet released Windows 98 operating
system, the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" appeared after a co-demonstrator plugged in a
scanner to demonstrate Windows' "plug-and-play" (aka "plug-and-pray") capabilities. Gates
was cool about it, to his credit, why not? Microsoft sold 25 million Windows 98 licenses
worldwide in the first six months of the product's launch. Bill, "That must be why we're not
shipping Windows 98 yet
The End Is Near
The promise of Armageddon just quite didn’t make it. TheY2K Bug thesis stated that millions
of computer systems, ill-designed for the new millennium, would in theory lose their little minds
on Jan. 1, 2000. If you believed the paranoia, the event was going to plunge the world into a
digital dilemma to the tune of every electronic device was going to stop working, or Human
sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! The newspapers were filled with
stories of people moving to rural safety, disconnecting themselves from the grid, arming up and
otherwise preparing for the impending Armageddon. Didn't happen. Thanks to coffee, overtime
and some judicious, fear-inspired corporate wallet emptying, and mountain of BS spouted by
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IT News, Served Cold with a Kick!
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IT professionals around the globe claiming to patch nearly every critical system before the
deadline. NOT!
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