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  • From: Michael Winslow Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] textile workers of the future?
  • Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 12:07:30 -0400


On Sunday, April 6, 2003, at 09:34 AM, BigLee Haslup wrote:
I said SAP to Dice.com and, for the 919 area code it said, in part --
Jobs 1 - 30 of 31 matching your search request.

[...]
Contrary to what their salesmen will tell you, when you break the shrink-wrap SAP doesn't jump out of the box and start running your company all by itself.


"The coding that does need to be done in close proximity to the customer will be the customization of the big packages for businesses."

SAP is sold on the basis of being cheaper to operate that the in-house code its replacing, which is why it costs so much. "Reduced operating costs" is a code word for "staff reduction". Every SAP installation, while creating jobs for people who would want to make a career out of customizing a big German database, destroys the jobs of many more people. On top of that, the profits from the sales all go back to Germany.

I used SAP because its both an example of job destruction through the adoption of a big customizable business software package, and a foreign company to boot.

I don't think there's anything wrong with companies outsourcing the areas of their business in which they don't compete. The problem is that with the high cost of purchasing and customizing SAP, combined with the inherent costs in running any computer infrastructure, its doubtful whether a company can really save the amount of money claimed, and in return can be tempted to give up software which could be used for a competitive advantage. Say for example, all of the companies in a certain field all switch to SAP. How in the world can they gain a competitive advantage over one another when they're all using the same software for inventory, manufacturing, accounting, marketing, etc?

________________________________________________________________________ _________
Run, run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the stinky cheese man!
-- michael at czeiszperger dot org, Chapel Hill, NC




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