Run IT as a Business: Part 1, Why…?

February 27, 2008

So I picked up the rough piece of wood and the even more rough piece of sandpaper. I am thinking to myself; my dad’s loosing it here. Wouldn’t I use something smooth to smooth out the wood? I was 9, I was wrong and of course, Dad was right. I stored that bit of information for future use; it takes rougher things to make rough things smooth. Not sure why, it just works.

Fast forward many years and many innovations. We find ourselves in a strange marketplace. Technology has advanced greatly, prices have dropped, capabilities abound. But, more importantly, the mystery of IT is gone. No longer do we have two classes of people; those who “know computers” and “those who don’t”. No longer can IT go away for a year and bring a solution to the business and everyone is happy. The business has called our bluff. Everyone knows technology…better stated; everyone has been assimilated.

Now the challenge for IT: How do we exist? This is rule number one, the rule of self-preservation.

Let’s set the stage properly and call it what it is. Within a company, IT is a monopoly and monopoly is bad for everyone. Decomposing this brings us through the following:

Single source for anything is called a monopoly. A monopoly means there is no competition and this is bad. My daughter recently hurt her ankle playing soccer and needed an MRI. If we were in Canada or France, the average wait time for an MRI is months. This is because their governments have a monopoly on healthcare. Since there is no monopoly here in the US, we simply asked who was the best, how much they charge and who could see us right away. After all, these companies are competing for my spend. It turns out that we could been seen right away. The place was new, the staff was friendly and the rates were competitive (we have a high deductible policy and are incented to ‘shop-around’).

“Competition is rough! Yes, well stop whining. Sandpaper is also rough, but look what it can do to the wood!” S.Felten (you can quote me on that )

Not having competition, IT is left unchecked. Without sandpaper, the wood remains rough and unfinished; it doesn’t look pretty and it can actually hurt you when handling it. When IT is left unchecked, it is left to its own perceptions of strategy, tactics and operations. The best that IT can do is to rise to their own level of understanding and take on the characteristics of their leader. They approach the business from the comfort of their passions and toolsets, holding on in emotional ways to their solutions that they birthed in years past. In rare occasions this is ok. However, most of the time the value that IT brings is not calibrated to the value that the business needs.

Unchecked IT bloats in the areas of Time, Money and Service. Competition works on every aspect of the iron triangle (Time, Scope and Money) – keeping them in check. Left unchecked, IT has the tendency to slip on time to market for solutions. Without the urgency of someone nipping at your heels, you tend to walk when you could run. Since IT is already budgeted and accounted for, what is the cost? Cost gets lost when you don’t pay cash. It’s hard to see the real costs for IT since they are spread out between divisions, projects, programs and departments. Finally, the level of service is hard to keep high when you don’t “have to” incur the pain of customer service; lets face it, we nature tells us to avoid pain.

The business must move forward and often goes around IT. When we first heard of outsourcing, admit it, we panicked. You’re going to let who do what? We all get frustrated when we hear of shadow IT groups popping up in marketing, finance, operations, etc…IT has a genuine concern and desire to use their powers for good, to make things better, faster and cheaper, to dispel the powers of evil. These are noble goals, but we have to think at the enterprise level. IT for IT sake is not valid. We must partner with the business at the most intimate levels. Did you hear the one that goes:

Q. What’s the difference between a data architect and a terrorist?

A. You can negotiate with a terrorist.

Let’s face it, we need to compete to stay in existence. But we also need to remember that this competition is good. Remember the sandpaper – we all want a quality, finished product that is both nice to look at and doesn’t hurt when you touch it.

Next post: “Run IT as a Business: Part 2, How?”… Coming soon.

Happy Sanding!

~ Scott Felten

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