I've heard all the messages about IT getting closer to the business
drivers. Can you offer any advice, such as clear guidelines, on
doing this?
IT relating to the business?I've heard all the messages about IT getting closer to the
business drivers. I hold up my hands and say "message received loud
and clear". However, my next job is to convey this to my foot
soldiers who deal directly with users. Can you offer any
guidelines?
The solution
Invest in visionaries
David Roberts
Executive director, tif
The people aspect of integrating IT and the business is the
single most important challenge for all organisations, but
especially larger, mature businesses. While many senior IT people
say "message received", I doubt if anyone within tif.'s community
would dare claim "problem solved".
- It is an educational issue facing all staff - it is not really
an IT problem but an HR and organisational challenge. You must
identify and lead work with the key business function
heads
- The knowledge level across organisations about what IT is, how
it works, its limitations, costs and complexities is appallingly
low and will continually impede progress. Provide compulsory
technology showcases
- The dependency of businesses on IT is probably the cause of
many boardroom rows, overspent budgets, the frequency of
restructuring and the often mistaken use of outsourcing. Invest in
project management visionaries.
Get out of that ivory tower
David Taylor
Certus
IT and business drivers must be one - there is now no difference
whatsoever. Indeed, instead of being a separate ivory tower, IT
must be at the very centre of an organisation. Easy to say, so hard
to achieve.
- Eliminate the word "foot soldiers" from your mind - they are
human beings, ambassadors - your own marketing department
- Everyone in IT must have contact with customers - however, make
sure that those with the most regular contact have outstanding
interpersonal skills
- Stop, now and forever, thinking and referring to the term
"business" - talk about the "company"
By the way, this is the number one priority for most IT
departments - do it now, do it fast, or look forward to being
outsourced. Think in terms of a marriage
Dr Robina Chatham
Lecturer in management information systems, Cranfield School
of Management
You asked for three clear guidelines on this issue, so that's
what I'll provide. To begin with:
- Try using an analogy such as that of a marriage - getting close
is about forming relationships, building trust and establishing
rapport. A troubled relationship will end in divorce, and this can
equally be between husband and wife or the business and
IT
- Make sure there is something in it for your foot soldiers -
give them a budget to take the users out to lunch. Lunchtimes are
for networking and relationship building
- Look for role models and celebrate their success.
The people who matter are users
Jerry Humphreys
Head of professional development, NCC Group
The days when the IT department would deliver a system which
they thought users wanted are dead and buried. Or are they? This
situation used to arise because of the "Users don't know what they
want syndrome". IT would then provide what was obviously required -
the only people who matter are users.
How can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past? A few
simple guidelines:
- Encourage a more customer focused business conscious approach
from your IT people
- Understand the requirement. Obvious, but incomplete analysis
equals incomplete understanding
- Regularly and deeply review any project at major
milestones.
Remember, your team are also users and, for example, don't care
how their videos work - they simply watch the film. Why should
users of IT be any different? They do not care how it is done, and
nor should they.
Communicate and impart the joys of IT to all your
staff
Robin Bloor
CEO, Bloor Research
My three suggestions towards approaching this message would
be:
- Find out what the true business drivers are, if you don't
already know. Then send an e-mail to the whole IT department
telling them what they are
- I get bad feelings about this expression: "foot soldiers" who
deal directly with end-users. Make a list of all the people in your
department who don't ever deal with end-users. Now find out how
your department has managed to create such insular jobs and work
out whether it really should be that way
- Explain to your whole department, including the "cannon fodder"
you refer to, that IT is a service department that sells its
services to the rest of the company. Run a marketing campaign to
the rest of the company on this basis, but do it subtly on the
basis of "fostering customer care". Follow up the marketing
campaign with an education campaign based on your staff helping
other departments to understand the business advantages of
intranets, extranets, the Internet and all the other joys of IT.
Anything where IT makes a difference.