(I wrote this opinion piece for IBM, for whom I’m an independent thought leader. See more on the ‘Verghis View’ at IBM’s resource center. http://eamresourcecenter.com/)

Butterflies are not only beautiful, but they can teach us something about managing assets in a complex world. Here’s what I mean.

For years, we have heard that we need to be aligned to the business. If all that required was documenting the mapping between business services and IT components, this would have been successfully accomplished years ago.

With the increased pressure on productivity, there’s barely time to keep up with everything that has to be done in your own job, much less other departments or the organization itself. Who has time? It’s like brushing our teeth after every meal. We know we should, but how many of us actually do it?

Interestingly, a 1972 talk titled Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas? holds a clue about why alignment is so important to the field of asset management. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz’s groundbreaking (and then-radical) paper concluded that the slightest difference in initial conditions – even smaller than what we could measure – made it impossible to predict past or future outcomes. That idea went against conventional thinking of physics.

OK, but how does this affect you? Well, the very idea of an asset, and who manages it, has dramatically increased in importance over the last few years. After all, managing your assets, and knowing what they are used for, and why, can materially affect your company’s efficiency, operations, even its stock price. For example, a tiny screw that’s missing or damaged because it wasn’t maintained properly can cause a multi-million dollar backlog in a your supply chain. Multiple groups would love visibility into the maintenance of that screw, for different reasons.

That’s why smart managers around the world are taking the time to peek over the silos that separate them, and discovering how their work impacts other parts of the business and vice versa. Having a comprehensive view of your assets enables different groups to look at the same asset from very different perspectives. This provides a chance to pool everyone’s information and make informed choices.

A problem with that screw is like that tiny butterfly’s wings having an impact on the weather thousands of miles away. Understanding your organization’s assets helps you understand the complex ripple effects that can happen downstream – and turn them into a competitive advantage.

That’s why butterflies, in addition to being beautiful, have lots to teach us about managing assets in a complex world.

Posted in: Enterprise Asset Management, Enterprise Support, IBM Blog, Technical Support, butterfly effect