What Should an Engineer Address when 'Selling' IPv6 to Executives?

Wed Mar 6 04:49:53 UTC 2013

Hello William,

Thank you for your inputs, see my comments inline.

On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 12:09 AM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>
> >
> > a) Set the strategic context: how your organisation derives value from IP
> > networks and the Internet.
> >
> > b) Overview of the problem: IPv4 exhaustion
> >
> > c) Implications of IPv4 Exhaustion to your organization’s business model.
> >
> > d) Introduction of IPv6 as a solution to IPv4 exhaustion.
> >
> > e) Understanding the risks involved.
> >
> > f) How much will deploying IPv6 will cost.
> >
> > g) Call to action.
>
> My experience has been that this model fail to _sell_ IPv6 to
> non-technical executives. Non-technical executives have 3 questions
> you must effectively answer:
>

And the model does explicitly address all three concerns (note I only
posted an outline ... the post (How to ‘Sell’ IPv6 to Executive Management
– Guidance for Engineers<http://techxcellence.net/2013/03/05/v6-business-case-for-engineers/>)
gives more detail)

> 1. What is the real dollar cost of doing the project (including both
> up-front and currently indefinite ongoing costs of dual stack. And
> don't forget to price out risk!).
>

Now in the post, I mention cost elements. At a point when you are still
trying to convince execs about v6, is it possible to have an accurate value
for this cost. Wouldn't cost elements and ball-park amounts be sufficient?

Please could you shed some more light on 'Pricing out Risk'? any tools and
techniques to do that would be highly appreciated.

>
> 2. What is the real dollar cost of not doing the project. (i.e.
> customers you expect to lose because you didn't do it. Don't suggest
> that IPv6 will allow you to avoid acquiring more IPv4. That's not yet
> true and if you say, "It will be in 5 years" the exec will respond,
> "great, come see me in 5 years.")
>

IPv6 has elements of a disruptive technology (right now it really only
addresses the needs of a fringe segment of the market and also is perceived
as worse with respect to feature set). The inherent problem with such
technologies is that no one knows the real dollar cost of NOT taking action
(when concrete data becomes available to support that, it would mean it has
already seen market success and so if you still don't have it, you'd be too
late.)

However, in terms of cost (and risk) of inaction - it really will depend on
how your organisation derrives value from the Internet and could run from
stalled growth in client and revenue base, inability to retain clients and
possible unknown adjacent opportunities that will be enabled by IPv6.

> 3. What is the opportunity cost of doing/not doing the project.
>
> Implicitly they'll also be looking for the answer to a fourth
> question: Do you know WTF you're talking about? If you assure them
> it's all peaches and cream with tiny costs and no opportunity cost,
> the answer is, "no."
>

I believe if anyone who can phrase the "IPv4 Exhaustion Problem + IPv6
Solution" in very specific terms of the business model of the company will
implicitly inspire confidence in execs that they know what they are talking
about.

>
> You get maybe 2 slides of summary on the technology and what it's for.
> If they want to know more, they'll ask. Everything else should focus
> on answering the above three questions.
>
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
>
> --
> William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
> 3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
> Falls Church, VA 22042-3004
>

-- 

Mukom Akong T.

http://about.me/perfexcellence |  twitter: @perfexcellent
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