IT vs. Business Units
infoeconomy on “Embedded IT: “IT has consistently struggled to build bridges with the rest of the organization, resulting in misunderstood requirements, failed projects and a lack of trust. Some companies are discovering a solution: plug staff directly into business units.”
The above is an extract from an article included in a recent ITBusinessEdge newsletter I received. While I’m a marketer, I keep being drawn back to reading technology stuff - especially things that discusses where IT and other business units meet.
I guess it’s “in my blood”. My MBA focused on both Marketing and MIS, while my undergraduate degree was on Management and Organizational Development. When I think about it … I did some MIS stuff there too - a course on Decision Support Systems.
After and between studies I’ve managed, researched, marketed, organized, analyzed, changed, trained and sold - pretty much touched on most departments an organization may have. Much of this work while in a marketing position, other parts were done as a part of management responsibilities. Not that this really matter, but it might help my readers better understand where I’m coming from.
In general I’m of the opinion that great marketing doesn’t really matter if the rest of an organization is not “ready”. If sales can’t sell, production not deliver in time and quality is lacking, then the need for marketing is minimal - at least in our emerging Internet 2.0 world where community and honesty becomes more important than ever.
In the same way, IT and other business units must work together. Today they often have different objectives - and the results of that show! While some of these objectives are important to everybody (I can’t see an online marketer not wanting a stable website or e-mail that only works every other day…), it is also important that we look at these objectives and the processes around them with the customers in mind.
There are different approaches. Alastair Muir talks about “Bridging Functional Silos to Achieve ‘Customer Impact” by using a SixSigma approach. There are other approaches as well.
When it comes to the “divide” between IT and other business units Muir’s article points out something really important - the customer. This is where the marketer in my gets really interested. By selecting the customer and their needs as the focus, I believe coordinating objectives, breaking down the silos if you like, becomes much easier.
roar at roarweb dot com
Note: This post moved from Blogger to WordPress December 6, 2005