Enterprise Software Isn't Sexy. Should it Be?Enterprise Software Isn't Sexy. Should it Be?

A seemingly innocent comment over the weekend about enterprise software's lack of "sexiness" evolved into a wild online debate about why and how enterprise software is just no good.It all started with famed tech blogger Robert Scoble responding to Bill Gates' comment that enterprise software isn't covered enough by tech bloggers and journalists.

Scoble ends up asking, "Any of you have any ideas on how to make business software sexy?" The question follows his comment that tech bloggers quickly learn that if the topic is between consumer software where users actually "have a role in adopting or purchasing or enterprise software where some CIO somewhere else in your organization decides on" readers are going to be interested in the former.

Blogger Michael Krigsman quickly responded that Scoble just doesn't get enterprise software. "Robert Scoble misses this point: unlike consumer software, where sex appeal is critical to attracting a commercially-viable audience, enterprise software has a different set of goals. Enterprise software is all about helping organizations conduct their basic business in a better, more cost-effective manner. In software jargon, it's intended to "enable core business processes" with a high degree of reliability, security, scalability, and so on. These aren't sexy, cool attributes, but are absolutely essential to the smooth running of businesses, organizations, and governments around the world."

Krigsman's insistence that enterprise software should lack sex appeal is, according to blogger Nicholas Karr part of why enterprise software continues to be so non-user-friendly. "By perpetuating a false dichotomy between the friendliness of consumer apps and the seriousness of business apps, all that Krigsman is doing is giving enterprise vendors cover for continuing to produce software that's difficult and unpleasant to use. Give Scoble credit. He's asking the right question, in his own strange way."

But Krigsman does credit Scoble with one point, and this, for IT managers, is perhaps the most significant, and relevant, one: "Scoble is right to bemoan the fact that decisions to purchase enterprise software, which may affect everyone throughout an organization, are often hidden from view."

IT managers, obviously, should have the final say in software purchasing decisions but if they are not getting input from and involving their IT department in the decision they are missing the boat. Not only are they losing out on frequently valuable points of view on the product but they also risk encouraging the kind of current scenario that blogger George Ou scathingly describes:

"The users will continue to complain that the software is too complex, the IT guys will sometimes complain but bear and grin it because it's job security, and the enterprise software will continue to sell because it more or less works and there's a massive sales force to propagate it. Is that too cynical? Probably but it's unfortunately true."