Bringing IT into the Now
Bringing IT into the Now
Is it really nine years since Nicholas Carr published “IT Doesn’t Matter”? Written in the months that followed the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the Harvard Business Review article’s premise – that technology had become no more than a commodity, providing little in terms of business differentiation – appealed to many.
How different things look now. Almost immediately following the wave of perceived commoditisation came an explosion of new approaches and capabilities, each of which is having a substantial impact on how both organisations and individuals use technology in their day-to-day activities.
For those responsible for defining, deploying and managing IT, this tidal wave of innovation has created quite a headache. Gone are the days when the IT environment consisted of a visible collection of computer systems situated at fixed locations. As the pace of change shows little sign of slowing, what can forward-thinking IT decision makers do to get themselves on the front foot?
The very first step is to understand what is really going on, to look beyond the megatrends and build a picture of what’s driving change. Cloud Computing, for example, is more of an evolution in IT sourcing and delivery than any single technology. Mobility and Consumerisation both recognise how increasingly tech-savvy individuals at all levels are adopting products and services to meet their own needs. Big Data reflects how technology has once again passed a threshold in terms of its scale and potential to handle increasingly large volumes of information.
Delivering on the potential of technology also requires a clear idea of what the business wants. While this can be difficult (not least because business leaders may not know the answers themselves) it remains fundamental, so IT decision makers need to do what it takes to understand business priorities, both at a high level and at the coal face. It is crucial to know what makes the business tick, before attempting to respond to its needs.
The final area of knowledge is ‘know thyself’ – or in this case, the existing IT environment, in terms of physical assets, services delivered, suppliers engaged and problems faced. Which leads to an equally fundamental question – do IT managers need to know everything, all the time? To do so is almost impossible, but a picture of what is important – the highest priority problems, the biggest challenges and so on – will require a reasonably solid overview of the environment as a whole.
IT departments are not blessed with infinite resources, which is an issue when both building knowledge and deciding what to do in response. A frequently reported statistic is that IT departments spend most of their time (between 60 and 80%, depending on the study) on maintenance activities, leaving only a small proportion for ‘innovation’ – that is, developing and delivering new services.
By its nature however, maintenance can never be ‘completed’ – it expands to fill the time allocated to it. The next priority is therefore to free some time, first by getting the house in order – identifying and fixing high priority problems, ensuring key data is protected and that core services – as agreed with the business – are delivered at an acceptable level. IT needs to be good enough and no better.
Delivering a firm foundation of technology not only stabilises existing service delivery, it also provides the basis for an IT strategy that takes advantage of new and emerging capabilities. Such a strategy does not have to be long-winded; it simply needs to set out the needs of the organisation, how they can be best met and the costs/benefits of doing so. It can also identify quick wins – relatively inexpensive improvements to the existing environment that deliver specific benefits, helping gain the buy-in of the user base.
Of course, the future IT environment needs to be architecturally sound – but this does not mean that it has to be rigid and inflexible. For larger organisations, architecture discussions take the IT-business conversation to the next level – enabling information models and classifications, service types and interoperability standards to be agreed. Smaller businesses also need a clear idea of how the different pieces of the technology picture fit together. If it’s too complex to map out, it’s probably too complex full-stop.
The final secret of success is the adoption of a mindset which is more about monitoring what is going on and delivering an appropriate response, than deploying technology as an end in itself. The first part of this involves considering IT as a portfolio of services, some of which may be delivered in-house while others are procured from the outside. Developing a service portfolio enables more strategic suppliers (for products or services) to be identified: reducing their number can also free up valuable time.
A service portfolio approach provides a basis for better reporting to the business in terms end-users can understand, which further enhances that all-important business-IT relationship. As well as ‘foundation’ services which need to just work, the portfolio can incorporate pilot or higher-risk services – in this way, emerging capabilities (for example, cloud-based services already being adopted by some parts of the business) can be brought into the portfolio, keeping the IT department in control.
However complex it may be, IT is ultimately a toolkit for the business, a Swiss army knife of capabilities that help end-users sell products, deliver services and respond to customer needs. Against a background of change, the goal for any IT department is to end up with more time and resources, clearer knowledge and better relationships, so decision makers are better able to take on board whatever is coming next.
IT will continue to matter, even as it increases in complexity and scale. By moving to a proactive, portfolio based approach, IT departments can also remain in control and stay relevant to the organisations they serve.
