Reply to: iSoft

[cojak]

It's very simple

iSoft (and many others like them) are 'box-shifters' from the Micro$oft mould. They code and ship out units.

Providing ongoing support for these 'units' is a completely alien concept to them so they have no service support structure in place when things go wrong.

There was someone on this board bemoaning ITIL ans Service Management and urging everyone to go back to the 'boxed set' model.

Well, this is what happens when that model goes t1ts up, fellas....

[datestamp]

From the iSoft 2004 accounts:

Digby Jones (48), Senior Independent Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Nominations Committee#†, was appointed to the Board on 19 May 2000. He is Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), a non-executive director of Alba plc, a director of Business in the Community, a non-executive director of the unlisted mhl support plc and Chairman of the unlisted etrinsic plc.

And from the Times report mentioned by Milan:

Sir Digby Jones, the former director-general of the CBI who was a non-executive director of iSoft until July 2005, describes Cryne as a “true Yorkshireman”.

“He had foresight. He was one of the industry’s great visionaries,” said Jones.

Er - right !! If you say Digby old chap

And in 2001, when Digby flew out to India to view the opening of the Chennai office of iSoft:

AFTER his first, week-long visit to India, Mr Digby Jones, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has said he will sensitise the British industry about the enormous opportunities beckoning overseas investors.

``Next Thursday, I'll write a detailed note on India to all our members and follow it up personally by contacting individually the potential investors,'' Mr Jones told Business Line. And that is not all. ``Every week I will send a note to all the 2,500 members of the CBI about India,'' he added.

What you sew ... so you shall reap....?

Oh dear, it never rains but it pours: iSoft boss Whiston quits

The chief executive of struggling IT company iSoft, Tim Whiston, has resigned from the group following a series of accounting problems that plagued the company and forced it to cut profits.

Shares in the company, a supplier of software for the controversial NHS national programme for IT, have fallen from around 400p in January to 55p this month as the aggressive accounting policies iSoft had been using came to the surface.

And BGG, is there some possibility that the "support specialist" is no longer sat at his desk:

The group has also announced that it has taken action to re-align its operating costs with future revenue expectations. This will see iSoft review its cost structure in an attempt to cut costs from £210m to £180m. It is expected that 150 people, 15% of the company's work force, will be made redundant.

[milanbenes]

the British interpretation of capitalism in action

Milan.

[Francko]

At my last two client site most managers are/were foreign and good.

IMO most English managers are tulipe blame merchants. Scots are as bad if not worse. Why do we have this paranoid mustn't grumble it's his fault attitude?

That should be the reason why you can't have a decent english football coach.

[Fungus]

Oh, you mean the great blame-shifting style? That must have been your fault.

At my last two client site most managers are/were foreign and good.

IMO most English managers are tulipe blame merchants. Scots are as bad if not worse. Why do we have this paranoid mustn't grumble it's his fault attitude?

[Francko]

Hmmm, no surprise there then. Sounds like the typical 'Brit' style of management which I have experienced in over 30 years in the industry, and it seems to just get worse and worse.

Oh, you mean the great blame-shifting style? That must have been your fault.

[AttitudeAdjuster]

Hmmm, no surprise there then. Sounds like the typical 'Brit' style of management which I have experienced in over 30 years in the industry, and it seems to just get worse and worse.

[wendigo100]

That's right - in this neo-nazi right wing state - the fat capitalist turds float to the top of the bowl. We need to flush these cock roaches down the pan.

I'm confused. Are they turds or cockroaches? I need to envision this.

[Jabberwocky]

That's right - in this neo-nazi right wing state - the fat capitalist turds float to the top of the bowl. We need to flush these cock roaches down the pan.

As the great man said: "All social rules and all relations between individuals are eroded by a cash economy, avarice drags Pluto himself out of the bowels of the earth."

Or another of my favorites: "Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity. "

[milanbenes]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/ar...230290,00.html

Founder lives the high life as iSoft slumps



Looks like the man has done well.

Milan.

[wendigo100]

The real losers in this episode are of course the staff, who have been sold down the river by their own management. I've seen it before at other companies, and ISoft is no exception.

Other real losers are the staff of another company, which went bust because HMG withdrew support for their product in favour of iSoft's last January.

[Board Game Geek]

Their support is fecking useless.

They compete with Emis, amongst others.

You have a problem with Emis ? You ring up and are put straight throught to a support specialist.

You have a problem with Isoft / Torex ? You ring up and told, "Thank you..we will get back to you".

You ask "when?" and they get cagey and give no firm answer.

Sorry...not good enough when a GP Surgery cannot work now and patients are being turned away.

You try to explain to the illiterate mongroid on the other end of the phone that this call is somewhat urgent....but they don't understand.

12 days later, they send and engineer to fix the problem.

ISoft are completely scr3wed and they know it. They did not realign their services to meet the business needs of a changing market.

As the market changed, their level of support crucified them.

I can see it now from the MD's mouth..."Just hire cheapo support staff, they will do the job".

As the demands of the market changed, the cheapo staff could not do the job. This caused resentment with the customers, who jumped ship to other systems.

The senior management probably thought that Accenture and Systm1 were going to seize the market share. As such they wound down Isoft for this eventuality.

In truth, they were probably right, as the PCT's projected considerable short-term cost savings (Year 1 and Year 2) with Systm1.

Hence Isoft were on to a losing battle from the start.

Which is why the Senior Management "Talked Up" the shares in Isoft and made a quick cash in on the Stock Exchange.

The real losers in this episode are of course the staff, who have been sold down the river by their own management. I've seen it before at other companies, and ISoft is no exception.

As long as the Directors receive their golden handshakes as they leave the door, what the hell do they care about the people below them ?

Such is the nature of business and the exploitation of one's fellow man.

Will the Director's and their assets be held accountable ?

They will have to wait and see

[Spartacus]

Crap staff.

[sasguru]

Crap management.

[wendigo100]

Crap product.