As my career continues, I ponder the constant pre-occupation that some corners of the IT community have with ‘business’ integration. The mere fact that the phrase “IT & the business” is used builds the perception of a barrier between two sides at war. Are there groups of accountants sitting around asking themselves how to get closer to the business? Are there groups of marketers asking themselves the same question? Who indeed is the business? Done correctly IT could, and should, be a business leader.
So what causes this intrinsic mistrust?
IT used to be the department that nobody understood, the department of the unknown. Overpaid geeks would take months to, if you were lucky, deliver cumbersome, difficult to use, solutions to problems that probably no longer existed.
Today everyone knows about computers, functionally rich apps are downloaded for free at a phenomenal rate to most smartphones. IT is now the department that takes too long to fix the PC, that is still staffed by overpaid geeks and that still takes too long to deliver real solutions.
Can anything be done?
Firstly, the demonstration of operational excellence is a prerequisite to being allowed to ‘play’ in other areas. If you can’t manage the day job, you can’t expect to be allowed to manage the future. The failure to deliver daily sales information or pricing updates should be a very rare occurrence.
Secondly, maybe it’s time to get rid of the name, and in some organisations, this is starting to happen.
IT takes on two distinct roles:
- Business continuity– It ‘keep the lights on’ and delivers repeated function week on week.
- Business Improvement- It then works at a business level, using its overview of business operations to lead and/or deliver projects that should deliver strategic advantage.
Monday morning thought provoking as usual, comments welcome.