How to Get IT and the Business Working Together
Posted August 2nd, 2009 by Editor
SUSAN CRAMM HAVING IT YOUR WAY
My last blog discussed how to promote innovation by dismantling the mistrust that exists between IT and the rest of the business.
A seasoned IT vet responded with a self-described "dumb question" that's far from dumb: "I graduated in 1978 from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a BBA in what is now called Information Systems, which is business applications of computers. This was when both the degree and the university were new. I understood this degree was created to address this issue. Why hasn't it?"
In other words, after more than 30 years, why can't we all just get along?
When relationships are strained, it's tempting to blame the people involved (e.g., IT professionals are socially awkward, control-oriented, technophiles while business leaders are bombastic, tactically oriented opportunists.)
But when the problem is deeply entrenched--like the ongoing tensions between business and IT--it's not the people, but the system that is to blame.
To understand the existing system that's to blame here, let's review the relatively brief, but troubled history of IT.
- In the beginning, business partners were totally dependent on IT. IT could could deliver very little beyond transactional systems (payroll, order entry, etc.) given the limitations of mainframe technology.
- Then came PCs and business partners tried to address their own needs through the use of "end user tools." This resulted in some good ideas, but troubled projects and poorly performing systems. IT found itself both lacking control and also being held accountable for these (increasingly mission-critical) systems. So IT fought back to eliminate the "rouge systems" and the "shadow IT" organizations that created them.
- Then came the Internet. It's promise, and the threat of Y2K generated unprecedented demand for IT services. The IT budget and organization ballooned. But eventually, the dotcom bubble burst, ERP systems lost their luster, and Y2K fears abated, leaving large IT organizations overseeing what was perceived as failed projects and overblown threats. IT's reputation and its budgets to took a major hit.
- To better manage escalating costs, dubious value, delayed and failed projects, and increased regulatory and security issues, IT decision authority was centralized and enterprise level governance was instituted.
- As a result, business leaders must approach IT and ask the group to address its unmet needs, fomenting mistrust between IT and the other parts of the business.