Please Challenge Me!

Today an e-mail came in from one of the sales reps in the field that just set me off. This person wanted us to generate a "best practices" document.

Under most circumstances, this would seem innocuous enough. But the whole idea that a simplistic, sales-oriented best practices document on Web performance could be produced that summarized these concepts in a few pages made me go ballistic.

I know what makes Web performance work. It took 5 years to get to this point, but after all of these years, I am burnt out trying to get the message across. The company I work for has a key vision. We have a strategy.

Tactically, there are far more Web sites with problems than there are that get it. I am not talking a small Web site trying to sell stuff on online auction sites or trying to reach a niche market. I am talking about large multinationals that are so busy in-fighting that they don’t see the dollars walking, marching, out the back door.

Business owners: poor Web performance costs you money. It is that simple.

But, I can’t get this message through to people anymore. All I want to do is help companies make their Web sites fast and reliable. And in the past year, I have been beating my head against the wall trying to do this.

I am passionate about this, like nothing else in my life. If your company feels the same way, I challenge you to re-ignite my passion.

The modern Web site is comprised of a number of complex applications designed to serve the needs of the business. Not only are they delivering content to end-users, but inventory information to partners via Web services, sales volume data to managers and executives, and revenue/cost data to the finance team.

All of this originates out of the Web site infrastructure, which is no longer a distinct vertical of the business, but a core component of the business. It’s no longer just about the housewife in Peoria, or Mumbai, or Berlin getting their item. The Web infrastructure is about the power to make key business decisions.

If the Web infrastructure is not looked at in this manner, then pack up your kit and go home. And how do you plan to ensure that it is running effectively?

The vast majority of IT departments while confidently tell a firm like the ones that I have worked for that they do not need external measurement and monitoring. Why? Because IT has never had to defend themselves to the business before. Now they are being asked to justify themselves before the business leaders. And in many cases, they don’t know how to.

It is not a battle. The business demands that their needs be met. IT needs the tools and technology to do this. External performance measurement is an ally in this justification. IT can clearly demonstrate what they are doing right, how they could do it better, or what they need to be more effective.

Business leaders need easy-to-digest facts to make business decisions. IT leaders need technically correct information to evolve their technology to meet core business objectives and effectively manage a dynamic environment.

So, lets get down to business. What do you need from me to achieve performance excellence?