IT/Business Integration
Posted by deano on March 17, 2008
Jason Hiner executive editor of Tech Republic has a good article in his post in Tech Sanity Check – Sanity check: If you’re working on IT-business alignment, you’ve already lost. There are two key phrases in the article that caught my eye:
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“As you can see, this is not about IT/business alignment. It’s about IT/business integration.”
Are the IT departments in these large corporations that far removed from business that they need to be sliced’n'diced and assimilated by business units?
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“…better explaining IT spending, getting other leaders to think of technology as a business enabler…”
How many business leaders (particularly the older generation) think of IT as a cost centre and utility rather than the ‘enabler’ that it can be?
This was part one of a two parter from Jason Hine . . . can hardly wait for the next installment.
BTW: In the last year I’ve been talking to a lot of small businesses that have less than 50 computers in the organization. What I like about these companies is the close relationship IT and the rest of the organization enjoy. There is also a higher level of commitment to IT as a business enabler from management than I would have thought. The IT staff are still spread a little thin but due to the hot Alberta economy there is funding available to address the IT resource requirements. After all that’s why I was there talking to them. What can the large enterprise learn from these smaller companies in regards to IT/business integration? I don’t have the details but I do know there is something there . . . for the most part the people in these small organizations were very happy with their IT – technology and people. There was one IT department that was struggling to turn themselves around. The CIO described it as a 180 degree shift. The challenge put forward to me was the RTC – resistance to change, of the IT staff to this new way of doing business. Unfortunately I didn’t get this contract. Which was too bad, I was really looking forward to the challenge. I wonder how they are making out?
Dean
