How should the IT department's role be defined in your company? More
importantly, who is your company, how does it operate and what are it's
long term goals? Departmental balance and integration, will always be
off if the company is facing an identity crisis.
Some IT professionals will tell you to do it for cheap. They'll insist that large budgets are needless and wasteful. They've often got a lot of good suggestions for cost cutting and a laundry list of free alternatives to the more expensive status quo. IT shops that run like this pride themselves on getting the job done at the lowest cost. Are they correct? Can this approach keep companies competitive?
Some IT professionals are bleeding edge advocates. They're the ones rushing around getting quotes for new technologies and developing roll-out and integration plans before the new hardware/software has even hit the shelves. They defy the odds and to keep their departments at the very forefront at all times, and they'll insist that any company that's not currently on the upgrade path will be buried. But can businesses afford the risk and cost?
The rest will insist that the right answer is to use their formulaic, middle-ground blend. But they're all incorrect. Focusing solely on cost and budgetary theory is a failure to grasp the true issue. No budgetary approach will result in a strategic or tactical plan that everyone can follow and find success with. Part of the problem with all three views is that the proponents of each one is missing the point, they're trying to run their IT shop like it's a separate entity.
Are they to blame if they're treated like a technical service provider? Departmental sectarianism grows in these environments and fosters an 'us versus them' mentality. So under those circumstances, it's no wonder that IT departments become an island unto themselves and forget their purpose.
Does each IT department have the same specific purpose? Well again, there's no simple formula, creed or mission statement that we technologists should be chanting every morning before starting the day. Management needs to realize that if there were some cookie-cutter approach to getting IT right every time, Microsoft would have patented it already.
So am I saying there's no answer? No, there's an answer, it just takes a lot more effort to find it and it's going to be different for each company. First of all, a company must have a correct sense of its identity in its industry, community and society as a whole. Once those things are determined it can go about defining a long term strategic goal, and from that tactical planning. Well defined goals in a well defined business model make clear to everyone their place in the big picture. Without a properly defined long term, high-level plan, attempts at making detailed plans will end up meandering as they are entirely reactive and without firm direction.
Abstractly; IT's role is to enable the business to meet its goals. If you're a small Mom & Pop hardware store, the fanciest piece of equipment you need is a PC. You don't need a fully staffed IT department, a server room full of blades running virtualized OSs to support your PoS, top-end inventory system, vertical supply chain extranet and e-commerce site. The idea is totally laughable. But if you're Lowe's or Home Depot every last one of us would agree that those are things that both corporations could leverage to meet their business goals in their chosen industry.
Specifically; IT will fail without a clearly defined role. And you can't define the role adequately if you're unsure about your company's identity and long term goals. No cheating, don't make lame, long term goals like "Increase profit margins", it's a given that you're in it to make a profit, stating so isn't a plan. Define your company and IT's role will come clearly into view. If you want to become a competitor in a global market, and your target customer base is highly technical, then going it the cheap route is most likely a very bad decision. If you're a local business and you have to compete with value providers, then spending a fortune on IT isn't going to differentiate you enough to justify the large investment.
While we technologists enjoy a good debate about the best OS, best software, best hardware, etc. the important thing to remember is that the right choices should be obvious when viewed in the context of a clearly defined company. We should all be careful not to take our personal preferences and prescribe them as IT panacea.
What are your thoughts? Share your questions and comments!
Some IT professionals will tell you to do it for cheap. They'll insist that large budgets are needless and wasteful. They've often got a lot of good suggestions for cost cutting and a laundry list of free alternatives to the more expensive status quo. IT shops that run like this pride themselves on getting the job done at the lowest cost. Are they correct? Can this approach keep companies competitive?
Some IT professionals are bleeding edge advocates. They're the ones rushing around getting quotes for new technologies and developing roll-out and integration plans before the new hardware/software has even hit the shelves. They defy the odds and to keep their departments at the very forefront at all times, and they'll insist that any company that's not currently on the upgrade path will be buried. But can businesses afford the risk and cost?
The rest will insist that the right answer is to use their formulaic, middle-ground blend. But they're all incorrect. Focusing solely on cost and budgetary theory is a failure to grasp the true issue. No budgetary approach will result in a strategic or tactical plan that everyone can follow and find success with. Part of the problem with all three views is that the proponents of each one is missing the point, they're trying to run their IT shop like it's a separate entity.
Are they to blame if they're treated like a technical service provider? Departmental sectarianism grows in these environments and fosters an 'us versus them' mentality. So under those circumstances, it's no wonder that IT departments become an island unto themselves and forget their purpose.
Does each IT department have the same specific purpose? Well again, there's no simple formula, creed or mission statement that we technologists should be chanting every morning before starting the day. Management needs to realize that if there were some cookie-cutter approach to getting IT right every time, Microsoft would have patented it already.
So am I saying there's no answer? No, there's an answer, it just takes a lot more effort to find it and it's going to be different for each company. First of all, a company must have a correct sense of its identity in its industry, community and society as a whole. Once those things are determined it can go about defining a long term strategic goal, and from that tactical planning. Well defined goals in a well defined business model make clear to everyone their place in the big picture. Without a properly defined long term, high-level plan, attempts at making detailed plans will end up meandering as they are entirely reactive and without firm direction.
Abstractly; IT's role is to enable the business to meet its goals. If you're a small Mom & Pop hardware store, the fanciest piece of equipment you need is a PC. You don't need a fully staffed IT department, a server room full of blades running virtualized OSs to support your PoS, top-end inventory system, vertical supply chain extranet and e-commerce site. The idea is totally laughable. But if you're Lowe's or Home Depot every last one of us would agree that those are things that both corporations could leverage to meet their business goals in their chosen industry.
Specifically; IT will fail without a clearly defined role. And you can't define the role adequately if you're unsure about your company's identity and long term goals. No cheating, don't make lame, long term goals like "Increase profit margins", it's a given that you're in it to make a profit, stating so isn't a plan. Define your company and IT's role will come clearly into view. If you want to become a competitor in a global market, and your target customer base is highly technical, then going it the cheap route is most likely a very bad decision. If you're a local business and you have to compete with value providers, then spending a fortune on IT isn't going to differentiate you enough to justify the large investment.
While we technologists enjoy a good debate about the best OS, best software, best hardware, etc. the important thing to remember is that the right choices should be obvious when viewed in the context of a clearly defined company. We should all be careful not to take our personal preferences and prescribe them as IT panacea.
What are your thoughts? Share your questions and comments!
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