Trevor Bayliss Why IT really winds me up

Trevor Baylis OBE, inventor of the clockwork radio

Trevor Baylis is supporting Viatel\'s summer \'Cut the Bull\' campaign to dispel jargon in the IT and telecoms industry

Business success is about vision. When I patented my Freeplay clockwork radio in 1991, I went to every company I could think of to try to get the radio manufactured. However they all turned me down, because it was simply different from anything they\'d seen before. They lacked the vision to see a whole new market for radios amongst the poor of Africa.

Often these businessmen masked their lack of vision with technical jargon. For three years I received letters telling me my design didn\'t work, or wasn\'t possible to manufacture due to reasons as varied as torque, to gearing, to market demography, despite the fact I had a working version I\'d built in my shed!

Today, 13 years on, I am instead faced with salesmen and consultants who lack the vision to understand my needs, and personally I blame IT and telecoms salesmen. Sure I wanted a computer with more memory, but why refer to it as RAM, and don\'t even get me started on PCMCIA. This love of jargon has proven infectious. The other day I was offered UV resistant, internally beaded, shock resistant PVCu panels, or double-glazing as the salesman eventually admitted.

What IT and telecoms professionals need to learn is that instead of starting by changing the product, they should immerse themselves in customer understanding. And that begins with listening, rather than just selling. My radio was a success because I had the vision to see an entire population without access to batteries or mains electricity, who nevertheless wanted access to radio, a medium that connects communities to the modern world.

IT and telecoms professionals need to act as reliable, professional allies to those they support. I was lucky enough to meet someone able to share my vision and become my professional ally in helping me to succeed. In my case it was Nelson Mandela, who saw the promise in my design and helped me establish a factory in Cape Town to manufacture my radios, helping to kick-start my commercial success.

Now I\'m not suggesting you need to go bothering international statesmen for tips, but there is a trust gap to bridge with most IT users. An inherent distrust lingers around new systems, particularly amongst those paying for them. Seeing beyond jargon will help you make the case to the board - the only acronym they\'ll want to hear is ROI, and we can all understand that.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but clarity of purpose is the straight-talking father that will see innovation live or die. Whether you\'re addressing the board or a customer, you should always ensure that your proposal answers a need. Cutting the bull will also ensure that benefits resulting from your invention are more easily attributed to you.

I was stung early on in my career by my ability to invent new things outstripping my business nous, with the result that others were able to claim credit for, and reap the rewards of my invention. Too often IT applications and systems appear to be divorced from the benefits they deliver, leaving the benefits vulnerable to being claimed by other interested parties.

Preparing a business case whether for a new invention or for the application of new technology should always include clear criteria upon which the success of the innovation will be judged, along with timescales for when these will be delivered. Of course if the idea of being clearly identified with the success or failure of the system seems terrifying, then perhaps you should reconsider whether it is such as good idea in the first place!

I can\'t guarantee all your business relationships will run like clockwork, but certainly don\'t wind up your colleagues and customers with needless jargon.

Trevor Baylis, July 2004

Trevor Baylis is supporting Viatel\'s summer \'Cut the Bull\' campaign to dispel jargon in the IT and telecoms industry.www.viatel.com

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