Have you every wondered why transferring money in the U.S. takes so long? We can make payments instantly at the other side of the planet with our banking cards, and yet people are still mailing checks to one another. This hilarious Planet Money podcast explains why.
One of the reasons is a very old programming language called COBOL. It has always been a mystery to me. I’ve seen a few mentions of it. I’ve never seen a program written in it. I can’t understand why anyone would use it. And yet it seems banks are using it (at least the old banks). The only reason they are using it is it would be too expensive to change.
What does this have to do with automating logistics businesses? It has because it shows how an existing information system can be a hindrance to progress. Sometimes you can’t replace the system bit by bit, you have to replace it in one move—kind of like replacing all your fleet at the same time. It can be prohibitively expensive.
This is another thing to keep in mind when automating. On the one hand, IT projects are experiments. On the other, you can get entangled. At the same time, it can be detrimental to an IT project’s success not to get entangled.