Countdown to Dreamforce 2008 | The End Of IT As We Know It Part II
Posted By Larry Dyson, Director of Services, October 13th, 2008
"If you can't support growth and innovation because you're not a disciplined organization that moves fast and surely - then you become irrelevant."
The Gartner Group
A little bit about me. I've been working in IT environments for 14 years. However, my interest in computers began with the Apple II. The first program I ever wrote went something like this:
10 print " /\ "
20 print " / \ "
30 print " / \ "
40 print " | | | "
50 goto 10
The ubiquitous rising rocket. If I remember correctly, the first computer game I ever played was Flight Simulator on Apple IIe.
I think one of the reasons that the personal computer intrigued me was that I seemed to understand them when other people around me did not. My parents didn't get it. And software for me was the power to create something from nothing which as a 10 year old felt really good.
I think programmers of today still have that desire to create something from nothing. To solve problems creatively. Unfortunately, the desire to program that still burns in the heart of a programmer may be misplaced in the modern IT environment where software is not the company's source of revenue.
The overhead of maintaining multiple code bases across many platforms, employee turn-over, ever increasing business needs and a smaller budget is the formula for IT departments that spend 80% of their resources just to stay where they are. IT employees must begin to use their creative skills and instincts to solve business problems rather than technical problems.
As IT folks are usually analytical thinkers, they have the potential to be the ambassadors of strong, well-aligned business processes. However, in many companies IT people have been members of departments that have not delivered measurable business value to the company and have been labeled as a Necessary Evil rather than a business enabler. There is a way out.
The best thing any IT department can do if it hasn't already is to reach out. They need to take the first step especially if the business has already written them off. They need to sit in on business meetings. They need to understand what the goals of each organization have and how those contribute to company-wide goals so that they can recommend solutions to automate those processes as much as possible.
If CIOs have people in their departments with some business savvy, they should appoint them as liaisons for each business unit so that every part of the company is represented around the IT round table. Getting IT people involved in the every day business processes is the only way to gain true understanding of what the business really needs that technology can provide.
When budgets are submitted by IT for new capital projects, every project submitted should be aligned with a previously stated business goal. If not, that project is surely destined to fail. It may be an IT success if delivered on time and on budget, but without clearly defined and measurable business goals at the beginning, you can't expect to achieve success with the system you are putting in place.
Remember, everything IT does in this new IT landscape should be more about business problems, less about technology and with a disciplined focus on results.
It's time to re-think the legacy technology. If that isn't an option, the IT department should understand what business processes across the company are similar, identify the systems used to support these processes and integrate those systems so that data flows freely between different business systems.
For example, the company may have many different sales channels (direct, retail, vertical, government, corporate). While the systems used to support these processes may be very different, the processes themselves may be quite similar. I would venture that every sales department, to some degree, needs lead generation data, sales reporting, commission reporting, agreements or contracts and access to marketing materials. Strong sales organizations also have access to customer care information so that they are aware of customer issues when making a visit. So, I have just mentioned 6 processes that could be aligned across the enterprise, even if they need to be customized for each sales channel.
It's true that many IT departments have been labeled the big slow moving bus or the machine with too many moving parts. This just won't work in the business climate of the 21st century. For the IT department to survive, it must become the center for innovation. It must be able to change when the business changes. It must be able to stand up new solutions quickly without high cost and without a constant need for new skill sets.
On-demand systems have heard the cries of business leaders and IT leaders alike and have delivered on many of the gaps with 90's era business systems. With systems like Salesforce.com's Customer Relationship Management, Marketing Automation and Service and Support companies can gain a 360 degree view of their customer out of the box. No server hardware. No small army needed to support a data center. Just pure business innovation on a subscription basis. Pretty amazing.
Next time, I'll be talking about the financial aspect of IT and share with you where I think IT belongs in the corporate structure from a cost perspective. See you at Dreamforce 2008.
