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1、FALL2007VOL.49NO.1DavidShpilberg,SteveBerez,RudyPuryearandSachinShahAvoidingtheAlignmentTrapinInformationTechnologyPleasenotethatgrayareasreflectartworkthathasbeenintentionallyremoved.Thesubstantivecontentofthear-ticleappearsasoriginallypublished.REPRINTNUMBER49102INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGYAvoidingthe
2、AlignmentTrapinInformationTechnologyharlesSchwab&Co.,thebigfinancialservicescom-pany,grewuparounditsinformationtechnologyCcapabilities.ITwasthekeyfactorthatallowedtheyoungdiscount-brokeragehousetooffercustomerslowerpricesontradesthantraditionalbrokers.Later,asdiscountbrokeragebecamemoreofacommodi
3、tybusiness,Schwabtrans-formeditselfintoafull-service,onlinebroker,andby1998itwasearningasignificantshareofitsprofitsintheonlinetradingbusi-ness.ButinthenextfewyearscompetitorscaughtuptoSchwab,andsomesurpassedit.Severalbrokeragehouses,bothdiscountandfullservice,werefrequentlyabletobeatSchwabonpric
4、e.Surprisingasitseems,giventhecompany’sstrategyofusingtech-nologytodistanceitselffromcompetitors,IThadbecomepartofSchwab’sproblem.Bythecompany’sownreckoning,ITstaffers’re-sponsestobusinessrequestshadbecomeslowandexpensive.ITengineershadtospendmoretimethaneverfixingbugsinthesystems.Meanwhile,sever
5、albig,ambitiousprojectswereoverdue—includingthetax-lotaccountingsystemSchwabhadenvisionedtoserveitsmostprofitablecustomers—andtheslowprogressoftheseprojectswaspreventingthecompanyfromrespondingeffectivelytocompetition.Still,thecompanykeptthrowingmoneyatprojectsbecauseitdidn’tseeanalternative.“Wes
6、aid,wehavetokeepspendingmoneybecausewe’rehalfpregnantandyoucan’tbehalfpregnant,”recallsDeborahMcWhinney,presidentofSchwabInstitutional.AredflagwentupwhenSchwabfounditselfspending18%ofrevenueonITwhilethreeofitsleadingcompetitorswerespending13%orless,acostdisadvan-tageamountingtohundredsofmillionso
7、fdollarsannually.ThefactthatacompanyastechsavvyasSchwabcouldfinditselfinthisInformationtechnologypredicamentisinstructive.Itunderscoresagrowingrealizationwehavefoundremainsaterriblebottleneckamongthecompaniesweworkwith
