In that one scene of the movie can be found an easy metaphor for where we, as an industry, have gone wrong. Everybody is focusing on what they can take to benefit their own gain, rather than choosing to be a part of the strategy that will benefit the industry as a whole.

Throughout the history of LISA, service providers have criticized the fact that there are not enough clients. Clients become LISA members and attend the forums to learn more and explore their options, but get tired of being targeted and overwhelmed with sales pitches. Meanwhile, they still want quick fix tools and solutions and complain when those implementations have proven to be shortsighted and not cost-effective. The larger service providers want to dominate the industry. They pick and choose with whom they will partner, and can afford to invest to influence business decisions. Therefore, many of the SMEs and independent professionals feel that they aren't being given a fair chance because they cannot compete with the type of exposure that only the big companies can buy.

Since its inception, LISA has been working hard to meet all the needs of an ever-growing constituency of professionals involved in the industry; clients, customers, consultants, translators, educators, and service providers of all sizes. However, in doing this LISA has failed to meet the basic requirements of any association - a common identity and purpose. LISA has even gone beyond its membership base to strengthen its offerings by seeking partnerships with other associations, but has not been able to form meaningful alliances. The somber reasoning is this: everybody is still coveting their clients, their members, their information, ideas, and their opportunities to succeed - not out of a sense of joint purpose, but due to intense competition in maintaining market share, revenues, growth, etc. As a result, division lines have been drawn; from big versus small to tools versus solutions, while members are looking to form coalitions outside of LISA to drive their own agendas.

Unfortunately, this kind of self-serving separatism is nothing new to our industry and often times discussions on how we can "all be better off" dwindle to finger pointing and blame. Even at LISA's leadership level, discussions have proven just how hard it has been to find a common cause. It was an uphill battle to come to open the association to all industry players and vertical business segments. This is because LISA has always struggled with defining initiatives that could reflect the needs of the whole industry rather than individual, company-based, objectives. If we can't develop this synergy within the association at a leadership level, then how do we expect to accomplish this industry-wide?

This is where we have continually strayed from the basis of Nash's equilibrium. His theory proves that we would all be better off if we coordinate our behavior as an industry, but acting as individual companies we will never penetrate the c-level or put localization on management's radar screen. It's no wonder why, after almost 12 years of the LISA, our industry is still considered immature. We've been using old approaches when making strategic decisions, and we have a lot to learn from Nash. None of us have achieved significant market share using the old approach. It's time to change to a more cooperative model.

LISA needs to get back to its roots. One of our core commitments has always been towards upgrading the professionalism of the industry by educating clients, reaching out to new business sectors and promoting best practice and emerging standards. LISA members have been proven successful at doing just that. The quality, skills, knowledge, and innovation that have been built within this industry over the past decade are tremendous. Now the challenge lies in using what we've built up collectively to bring more attention to our industry, educating clients in other vertical markets, and providing an open atmosphere for exchanging ideas, where clients can come and feel safe from a ceaseless number of sales pitches. Only then can we establish a customer-focused dialogue for improvement.

If we really believe that demand is greater than supply and that there is a need for this industry's capabilities and skills, then we need to believe in our message, at least to the extent that we are not afraid of working together for a collective goal. Otherwise we are doomed to remain a stagnant and factionalized industry, with no opportunity to achieve our common objectives.

The IT industry is generating approximately 900 billion USD per year. Though it's a hard reality to face, our industry is only a very small fraction of that. We must come terms with just how destructive it is for us to continue working independently, especially on the supply side. Already we've seen how solutions providers are cutting prices or even giving away services in order to gain the market share they need, and such actions - while it may achieve immediate sales goals - ultimately harm the industry by devaluing our offerings as a whole. Unless we decide that we are willing to take risks on behalf of our industry, and invest in a future that we will all be able to capitalize on as an industry rather than individual companies, the gains we seek will never be realized.

Barry Lynn, former Executive Editor of Global Business Magazine (TCI) said at the LISA Global Strategies Summit in Washington DC this past March, "Support your industry association, because when it dies, so does the industry." So imagine for a moment that there was no LISA. Yes life would go on, but an important ingredient would be missing - an independent global environment where everyone can turn to address the necessary standards, definitions, best practice, and case studies required to succeed. Perhaps the one thing we all agree upon is that we need, regardless of our role within the industry, a common rallying point for a value proposition. The problem is, we're not all looking in the same place. Segmenting the industry will not make it grow any bigger or faster. We must start building from the inside out by focusing on what the industry needs most: collaboration.

LISA has spent the last 12 years building up an inventory of services and information that offer both the public and LISA members a point of reference for industry convergence. The LISA newsletter, website, special interest groups, and events present an opportunity for professionals in any aspect of the industry to express the issues that matter to them, while simultaneously contributing to a more cohesive industry strategy. Participation and openness is what it means to be part of the solution.

During this time, LISA members have invested in an identity and created a momentum that we cannot afford to abandon. LISA needs new faces and new voices to unite the industry, because only then will we collectively be strong enough to position ourselves effectively for the future. However, before we can identify what the unifying forces will be, we will have to first identify who's truly willing to change the scenario to achieve the cooperative success that Nash's theory of Equilibrium has proven. In LISA's case, if we don't change we will die. Unless members agree to cooperate at meaningful levels the industry will disappear.

In the words of a revolutionary who advocated change so that everyone would benefit:
 
"We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately,"
Benjamin Franklin.

Sincerely,

Michael Anobile