Brought to you by the NU School of Technological Entrepreneurship

Tip #21:

If you don’t listen to your customers’ requirements, a competitor will.

A few years into selling IDMS, the value of listening to customers, and prospects, became even more evident to me. The reason is that prospects had begun raising the subject of data dictionaries.¹ When I brought this up to our small, overworked, technical group, they said they didn’t have the time, or resources, to build a new data dictionary product, a complex undertaking, and that was that. However, I had learned that when I begin to hear a recurring theme from prospects not to give up so easily. The question, as usual, was how?

The solution was a joint venture with a prestigious consulting firm of the time that I knew was very interested in developing a data dictionary. We agreed that they would present a proposal to the IDMS User Group in Atlanta that year to develop a data dictionary for any interested parties. Those interested could pay for it on a cost-sharing basis. However, when the consulting firm presented its proposal I was surprised that so few companies were enthusiastic about their dictionary approach, which was “inactive”. Noting this I then asked the question, “How many were interested in an “active” data dictionary”? Almost all attendees raised their hands. This was the end of the consulting firm because it had a big impact on our development team. They realized that they had better find a way to develop one if the company was to remain competitive. While they may not have believed me, this was irrefutable evidence of the market speaking.

An active data dictionary is a unifying product that drives all the components of a database management system. It is an extremely complex application, so much so, that it caused us to make a most important decision. We decided to use IDMS as the database manager for it, and it would be the most complex application, by far, ever developed with it. Incredibly, within six months, we had a test version of an active data dictionary, which we named the Integrated Data Dictionary, and within another six months, we had installed the product at 20 sites. Thus, within a year, our project team, led by Bill Casey, had turned an idea into a product that generated $200,000 worth of revenue, a remarkable technical and marketing accomplishment. It was the Company at its best.

The decision to build an active data dictionary turned out to be a most important move by the Company. In fact, active data dictionaries were critical to new database technology developments of the future, including distributed data processing. The key was that listening to prospects and finding a way to convince our technical organization of the wisdom of building a data dictionary. Sometimes you have to find ways around obstacles that exist in your own company to do things that should be done. Otherwise, you can be sure, a competitor will.

1 A data dictionary is a database that holds the name, type, range of values, source, and authorization for access for each data element in an organization’s files and databases. It also indicates which application programs use that data so that when a change in a data structure is contemplated, a list of affected programs can be generated. Data integrity and accuracy is better ensured through use of a data dictionary. An “active” data dictionary is automatically updated as changes occur in the database. A passive (inactive) data dictionary must be manually updated.

See another tip of the day:

Don't miss out – check back for a new tip daily...