The Rise and Fall of IT (as we know it)

By Nathan Coutinho

IT is the central nervous system of practically every modern business on the planet. However, most of us have looked at IT primarily as a cost center, endlessly pursuing a lowered Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through massive budget cuts, technology consolidation and the migration from siloed, analog systems to integrated, digital ones. This became the norm because most companies on average spends over 70% of their annual budget on operations and maintenance. In other words, most of the actual IT budget is spent ‘keeping the lights on’ while very little is used to hire new talent, improve processes and make new technology investments. Also, most IT shops were setup as walled gardens, enforcing a specific set of platforms, applications, desktops, displays, printers etc. This may really sound bad, but for the time period we’re talking about, it was the best way to run IT. But times have changed.

The Fall of the IT Wall

IT is increasingly seeing new business and organizational pressures every day. If handling security, virus outbreaks, disaster recovery and application/desktop upgrades and migrations weren’t enough to deal with in this walled garden, then the consumerization of IT with apps, smartphones, tablets, wearable sensors etc. has created a whole new world of challenges. Initially, most IT shops ignored and sometimes banned these technologies though a company-wide IT policy. While there are some definite security and productivity risks to consider and evaluate, some business units or LOBs (lines of businesses) are now creating clearly visible, increased business value through the adoption of consumer, mobile and cloudtechnologies - be it tablets, chromebooks, Pinterest boards, Instagram pages, Salesforce groups, Dropbox shared folders etc.

For the most part, the wall has already fallen, whether we care to admit it or not. This has become evident by the large amount of apps, devices and cloud services that are being purchased directly by business units and individual employees. However, these can have short term gains, as security and compliance aren't exactly a priorty for non-IT folks. Many times, when an unsanctioned service becomes business critical, it has to be handed off to IT for security and integration, and that's where things can get ugly.

Transformation is Necessary

The fall of the IT wall hasn't exactly removed IT from existence (and it won't), but a new bar of expectations has been set. IT now has to build collaborative and effective bridges to ensure that its constituents are optimally consuming IT services. We now have to provide a platform to continually enhance productivity, breed creativity, innovation and most importantly, derive strong, tangible business outcomes from every single technology investment.

This sure is a very different IT than we're used to seeing and knowing, which is what makes this a challenging transition; one that will take many attempts, failures and most importantly, time.

Take Baby Steps

You can't rush transformation, especially since so much cultural change is ahead of us. Here are just a few things we can do as we start our journey down this path.

1. Get a seat at the executive table. If you haven't already, make sure you have a well respected voice at the executive table.
2. Change executive perception. Work hard in making it clear how critical IT services are in keeping the business running and how it helps enable growth and competitive advantage. Develop a business outcome-based investment scorecard so executives clearly see the impact of every IT investment.
3. Change company-wide perception. Integrate IT into each business unit. Hold weekly brainstorming sessions to understand each business unit's needs and wants. Discuss potential system upgrades, new technologies etc. that could positively or negtively impact each area. Ask each business unit to participate in early trials and pilots.
4. Move from a culture of No to a culture of Yes. Many business units are going around traditional IT because they are so used to hearing 'no' repeatedly over the years. While you can't exactly say 'yes' to every request, proper listening and being the voice of reason can immensely help strengthen the relationship and ultimately build trust. Expect some level of policy relaxation as well, because in order to be more agile and increase experimentation, you have to elevate risk.
5. Automate and Orchestrate. Let me be clear here, there seems to be a biggap in most IT environments and this one is fairly simple to fix. We all have gobs of virtualization, converged network, storage and server solutions today. Now all we have to do is stop doing all the manual work associated with operating these environments, use the built-in tools or add new orchestration tools to automate as much as possible. And if you don't want to go down this path or buy new software, consider moving some or all your applications to the cloud, if that makes the most sense for your organization.

So there you have it. IT is still here. IT still matters. But if IT doesn't change to help the business adapt and innovate, the business units will (and have) take matters into their own hands. Quite simply put, disruptive markets and consumerization has created a need for a new and improved IT which will continue to be a strategic enablement weapon for any organization.

Let the transformation begin.