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Complexity in the world is going up and will continue to rise. Problems are getting more complex as are solutions. In fact, in current times, even though the inventors profit financially from their work, they would not win awards for simplicity. This has deep implications for those seeking to execute strategy with modern technologies.

Building solutions has become more expensive, thus the best option is to buy solutions or integrate pieces to make up the whole solution. Selection of solutions is hard and purchasing decisions are hard because solutions are not easy to evaluate. More important, it is becoming hard to see how the solution will benefit you, until you see it in action on your business processes, and run by your co-workers. Implementation costs can rise rapidly and it may end up dwarfing the initial purchase price.

Whether you are a buyer or a vendors, the answer is to to do more education before a sale. The more enlightened the customer, the easier the sale, the fewer the post sale hassles.

Vendors try to sell their products, services, and solutions and hope that customers will figure it out or gain enough value to not complain. It works, but sophisticated customers will not put up with this. They have already been burned by the “lets just figure it out” approach.

This is hard to do in a project driven world. The project to acquire a solution may be finished by a person different from the person who started it. The person who takes over solution implementation may have their biases, and may be looking to replace the solution with their pet ideas.

Your leadership legacy will be strong if you finish the project you started. The more complex the project, the harder it is to accomplish, and the stronger your legacy.