How You Can Help IT Serve the Enterprise
There is a lot of important work in IT that isn’t getting done.
Replying to the 8 Things We Hate About IT blog entry, a reader named Paul shared his frustrations with IT and what he believes the IT role should be: “My biggest frustration with IT is that they tend to consider themselves IT (in a reactive mode) rather than embrace the business proactively, and they stifle the creative entrepreneurialism that is critical to advancing the state of the business…IT should not just carry out specific needs, it should creatively partner to explore what SHOULD be done.”
Take a poll and you’ll find that most every IT professional across the globe agrees.
Problem is, as we’ve discussed, IT is so busy managing the trees, they can’t afford to even think about the forest. IT spends 75% of its time managing lights-on activities and the remainder of its time fielding enhancement and project requests that overwhelm the department. On average, the IT backlog (what other business function has backlogs?) is between 1-3 years, a preposterous number for a technology world that works in, at most, 6-month cycles.
We’ve already talked about how some of the tactical chores can be eliminated (Reduce IT Demand By 50%) and how others can be taken out of IT’s purview and put into the hands of business units themselves (As Good As IT Gets).
Breaking out of its tactical shackles is critical so that IT can free itself to help the business strategically. Let’s return to our list of 8 Things We Hate About IT and to identify the work that IT should be doing drive innovation and business change:
| To break through the... | ...Make sure IT is focused on... |
|---|---|
| Limited authority | Equipping business partners with the “rules and tools” of their technology so that they can safely satisfy day-to-day IT needs on their own. For example, many companies have placed document management and business intelligence tools and guidelines directly in the hands of their business partners, thereby reducing the need to request these services from IT or having IT worry about whether policies are being followed. |
| Missing adult supervision | Closing the capability gap between the CIO and the rest of the IT leadership team. Business partners want to work with more seasoned technology leaders to collaborate on IT-enabled strategies. Unfortunately, typically there is a huge gap between CIOs and their direct reports, as illustrated by that an estimated 60% of CIO positions are filled externally. |
| Financial Extortion | Delivering year-over-year reductions in price/unit for IT services through simplification, standardization, and automation. Organizations that have tackled a disciplined cost management program have reduced lights-on costs by as much as 50%. |
| Never-ending projects | Investing in technology that allows for quick assembly and a learn-by-doing adoption process. Salesforce.com, a software-as-a-services (Saas) provider, is a great example of this strategy. |
| Helpless Help Desks | Incorporating self-service capabilities in every technology deployed. Case-in-point, single sign-on capabilities combined with user-oriented password management tools, can reduce help desk calls by as much as 30%. |
| Abdication Outsourcing | Becoming best in class at managing external providers. Outsourcing is a powerful sourcing option, but over 50% of outsourcing deals fail due to an inability to effectively define and manage the contracts and relationships.You must ensure seamless process integration across the services ecosystem. |
| Out-of-date Geeks | Giving motivated IT staff space and time to learn new technologies. It's only if IT has the time to learn new technology that they can then share insights on how the technology can be applied to business performance. See Google’s 20% time initiative for inspiration. |
| Lack of Good News | Developing approaches that ensure tangible value is realized from IT-enabled business investments. Research indicates that IT Increases shareholder value for those organizations that manage it well. |
By assuming responsibility for fulfilling their day-to-day IT needs, the business will create something IT desperately needs: free time. That time can be then used to focus on the above strategies that truly serve the enterprise. In short, IT can consider the forest.
Take a moment to share your views of what you are doing to take control over the technology that runs your business and how you are improving collaboration with IT and the rest of the business.
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