Death by a thousand cuts
Pick up any issue of the CIO magazine, or glance at any IT Strategy related blog postings and you'll hear the constant refrains - "Must have better Business/IT alignment", "Must make sure that IT objectives are in line with business strategy", "Must make sure that IT and business work together as a team" and so on. All good stuff, for sure. And very noble. But it's one thing to announce business/IT alignment at the CxO level, and another to make sure it gets translated to action at the ground level.
Take an average company. Chances are that the users of technology - customer service advisors, production managers, marketing personnel etc. - hate IT. Yes, hate. And not just the abstract concept of hating IT (e.g. hating Microsoft for Outlook), but hating IT people. Why is this so? Is it because IT personnel are in general social misfits and like dealing with machines instead of humans? Is it because IT people can't explain concepts simply? Is it because IT people regard business folk as dumb and incapable of understanding technology? While I think there may be an element of truth in each of these gross generalizations, I think the core of the problem has to do with control and trust. Users of technology resent the control that the IT people have over their professional lives and resent IT's lack of trust. And with good reason.
Take security for example. I got a nasty call today from a information security officer at a client. He informed me that my having instant messenger, iTunes (a music player) and Freemind (a mind mapping tool) on my corporate laptop was a threat to corporate security.
Now before the security zealots severely chide me for failing to follow appropriate policies, let me explain. I fully understand and agree with the need for security policies and the need to protect against the threat of corporate espionage. But there's a balance between given freedom to explore and a fascist crackdown on independent thought. Why with instant messenger I may be able to get a quick answer before a meeting; why with iTunes I may even be productive at work as I create a presentation; why with FreeMind I may be able to organize my thoughts and plan better. Clearly threatening to the very edifice of the corporation.
It's exactly this kind of big brother behavior that kills initiative and make corporate citizens into drones. And makes people start to hate IT. This has to stop. Let's face it - IT shops are seldom the founts of innovative ideas. Was instant messenger created by a strategic IT committee looking into improving employee communications? Were wikis created by the IT department looking for a way to empower business folks into sharing knowledge? Was blogging software created by a team of IT professionals dedicated to facilitate equality in expression?
More often than not, it's the business folk who are pushing the envelope by bringing technologies in house to make their lives easier. We have to encourage this. Not to foster anarchy or a deliberate flouting of rules - but to allow knowledge workers to dream, think and create. Monitor the activities of employees, don't control. Trust your fellow business employee, don't patronize.
Comments
Best example of users hating IT is at Wachovia Securities. I met this young Associate who joined them 2 years ago and he couldn't get IT to function as per business.
The current IT staff cannot be blamed for the original poor planning of IT Architecture.
If Infosys starts providing Architectural services - that would be good service to upsell !
Posted by: Manik Patil | April 14, 2007 01:38 PM
"If Infosys starts providing Architectural services - that would be good service to upsell !"
"If" ??? Surely you don't know about the services Infosys offers? Do check out Infosys.com
Posted by: Mohan | April 23, 2007 01:03 AM
I think the mindset of corporations is still of a big brother and I think it will continue like that. The tool/solutions produced till now have been only done with the purpose of maximizing revenue.
How can we improve our revenues is the sole strategy.
Making a better product may not always fit with the strategy. Microsoft, Sun and many companies have made mockery of innovation.
Who said competition produces better products. For the last 50yrs IT has noway been innovative and it took the internet to create the new innovation framework. Infosys should really, given the cash they are sitting on, think big. They should create the next Salesforce.
Posted by: Vishal Singh | April 25, 2007 08:36 AM
Mohan,
A vendor (esp in services universe) saying that they can provide and the market recognising the vendor in that domain are two different things altogether :)
Besides, I am talking in perspective of Enterprise Architecture and not mere IT architecture. IT architecture is a subset of Enterprise architecture. Many a times, the word "Enterprise Architecture" is used as a misnomer for IT Architecture.
A stronger recognition in architectural services space will help Infy's Consulting arm as well. In fact, without Consulting arm, the ITL side alone cannot provide Enterprise Architecture services easily.
Posted by: Manik Patil | May 5, 2007 09:48 PM
What Manik says makes perfect sense. The idea should be to get in at the business consulting level, get the buy-in from the client, and then do what can be done for IT.
Posted by: Hardeep Makkar | May 28, 2007 06:10 AM
When IT became a part of organizations some decades back, they did not know what to do with it. So, the business as usual, where only the 'traditional' business units (Marketing, Finance etc) were involved, continued, treating IT as a step-daugther.
This also led to the IT folks binding strongly among themselves and not opening up to the other business users, furthering the divide.
Now, when progressive organizations have seen the potential of IT, they are awarding it a say in strategic decision making but the historical divide still remains in the minds.
It is biased to say that IT departments are not innovative. Effective organizations have now placed stratetic people in the IT departmets who can drive innovation to further the organization's cause. In fact, the IT department is now seen at par with other traditional departments and people who understand both IT and busienss have become very important in an organization.
The divide is narrowing; the 'hate' has definitely given way to 'adjustment' and at many places 'collaboration'.
Posted by: Surya Saurabh | July 8, 2007 10:48 AM