Potential partners on-demand
Tinder has revolutionized the dating process by making it super easy to quickly review potential dates. When creating a Tinder profile, the objective of the date seeker is simple: make sure you get selected by the kind of person who you would want to date with and then trust on your communication skills to do the rest once you have established contact. There is no deep reviewing of a personal profile – instead, most Tinder users just check the picture and perhaps a quick scan of the ‘profile’, which is typically not more than a few lines. Swiping the picture left means – not interested, while sweeping right means – interested.
One of the drawbacks of this process is that the supply of potential dates seems infinite and when a person in real life seems less than perfect, it is too easy to replace that person with a new date, instead of trying to live with some of the shortcomings of a real person. It makes me think of the quote: ‘a man was searching for the perfect woman, only to find out, when he finally found her, that she was looking for the perfect man.’
Dating for APS software
I see many similarities with companies selecting software for Supply Chain Planning & Optimization – note that I prefer the ‘old’ term Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS). Companies regularly discontinue a functional APS system, to be replaced by another one from a different vendor, only to exchange one set of shortcomings with another – or even getting the same ones back. It happens too often that APS systems are implemented, perhaps used for a couple of years, but the company never started a continuous improvement effort using the new tool. Hence, the tool is being used, some data goes in, and some data goes out, but the value of the APS tool is lacking. As a result, the support for the solution will be waning. Furthermore, when years have passed since the implementation, the company might be forced to upgrade the APS and this can be a significant effort without clear business benefits, adding to the negative sentiment about the tool. The people that initially promoted the APS solution might have left the company or found another position, and when these ‘champions’ leave, there is nobody there anymore to remind the company of the vision and objectives that got the APS implemented in the first place.
And there are always new candidates who promise to be better, whose brochures look shinier, whose marketing stories sound more credible. They will argue that they do not have the drawbacks of the old solutions and that what they have is NEW! and next level. They will promise to reap those benefits that the company did not get with the old solution – although that was due to themselves not executing continuous improvement. So, the company will ‘ghost’ the old supplier (a dating term for not replying to contact requests anymore) and swipe right to the new one, hoping to have found the perfect match – this time.
You lose them like you win them
In the world of APS systems, I have been on both sides – being the old and the new date. Replacing a competitor’s solution boosts your self-confidence as a vendor, like winning an important match against a lifelong adversary. However, another wisdom from the dating world says that ‘you lose them like you win them.’ Perhaps five years later, the company will replace your APS system by another one, again, as they are structurally unable to use the tool to improve their business processes.
So, we should learn from successful relationships in real life, which are based on mutual respect, accepting each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and kept alive by sound communication. Good relationships are not the result of an eternal quest for the perfect match, but on continuous investment in the relationship you have chosen to have, from both sides. In most cases, a tool that has worked for a company in the past, has a good chance to work in the future as well, as long as there is an active commitment from both sides to develop, improve, and to grow together.
Also published on LinkedIn.