The Savvy Manager: You're Doing IT Wrong

By Mike Bohlmann

September 15, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 3)

There was an opinion piece in Systems Management News not too long ago about how IT planning is changing. The main point was that IT planning is no longer confined to IT, with no significant involvement from the business. As I’ve said before, we have to get out of the IT basement and into the meeting rooms and offices throughout the organization.

Sometimes, however, we run into barriers from management or others in the business who think IT people do not know anything besides computers. If you have started doing your homework by following my advice to get to know the business, then maybe it is time to confront management about how the company approaches IT.

Do you want IT to understand the business?
If a business wants to get the most out of IT, then IT needs to understand the business. While there are steps toward that end that IT staff should take, the task is not IT’s alone.

Management and employees throughout the company should be thinking about how IT staff can learn more about the business. Most large and mid-sized companies have IT staffers who serve dedicated roles as business analysts or relationship managers; such people can act as critical bridges between IT and the rest of the organization. Some organizations even go so far as to embed IT staff directly in non-IT units. But there are even more ways that every systems administrator or programmer can contribute by learning more about the organization.

The first step is to include IT in process improvement groups. Such involvement yields benefits in both directions. Non-IT people might hear new ways of doing things with tools they already have that can improve the process. The IT people might learn more about how the business operates and thus be better able to provide services.

Do you want IT to be a cost center or a strategic partner?
Within the organization, IT may be approached as a cost center or as a strategic partner. If you have been through a cost-cutting effort, you know that after a while you run out of costs to cut that don't risk a loss of quality. There is nothing about IT that makes it an exception.

Related Search Term(s): ITIL, professional development

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