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Who’s on First?
I was reading an article this morning entitled Rogue SaaS Is Alive and Kicking, IT Leaders and I found a few things very disturbing. The basic tenet of the article is that IT has become a bottle neck to line of business decision makers, who are, therefore, simply striking out on their own and making decisions to implement one-off solutions on their own.
I admit, my inner IT manager cringes at the long term implications of the addition of random computer applications being added across an organization without thought of data integration, security, and application interoperability. But, that isn’t really what I want to talk about.
No, the thing that really struck me was that IT is gaining a reputation for not being responsive, for being overly insular and not understanding the needs of the business. I can see how it happens… IT management often finds it easier to simply say ‘you don’t understand’ or ‘its not that simple’ and then moves on with their well planned approach to managing the technology bed of the company. You see, the day IT becomes ABOUT technology, it stops being about business, and we end up with this disconnect.
It is imperative that IT managers and departmental members keep one simple thing in mind -technology is a tool to enable business, nothing more. When running IT becomes about the tool, not the use of the tool and the satisfaction of the business users, it is time for a shake up. If IT departments don’t understand the business, and the users needs, they can’t design IT systems to serve these users and maximize the success of the business. IT best practices based on technical specs and industry standards may be well off the mark when it comes to what you want for your business, and how those systems support it.
As a business person, I try to never lose sight of what the role of IT is. It is critical that those systems provide the support my employees need to get their job done, and all IT plans should work backwards from business requirements. Any IT plan that does not have a direct tie to the business needs, or any plan that simply does not start with an assessment of the business and an understanding of the needs of the business managers and employees is doomed to long term failure.
Time to let go of the ‘its hard’ or ‘you don’t understand’ and embrace a business centric approach to IT. To have the right tools for the job, you must first know what that job is. Sounds simple, and yet, clearly, IT must continue to adjust and understand its role in the function of business. The days of servers and applications being the central hub around which business best practices are built are over.
So, go and spend some time talking to your IT team/provider today, and start evaluating if you truly have alignment between your business goals and your IT infrastructure. Otherwise, you may find yourself with business managers simply making decisions, and IT chasing around issues and cleaning up messes.
At the end of the day, IT is about ensuring users are happy and supported and that businesses are productive.
Happy Computing -
Richard Brunke
