International Process and Performance Institute

It’s hard to accept the fact that sometimes we are part of the problem. Especially when we have typically been recognized as a key part of delivering solutions. As I teach the CEM Methods around the globe, I hear a consistent message from students when it comes to setting time estimates for Action Plan ideas which involve IT in their companies. The consistent message is they must add at least six months to one year for any project involving the IT Department. This isn’t just bad news; it is sad news for me as one who has spent most of my professional life in IT providing solutions. I cringe when I hear these words, yet I know they’re true. I’ve seen it become more prevalent over the last 5-10 years. It’s now becoming a very serious problem for organizations everywhere; it is at risk of giving IT as a discipline the reputation as the new impediment to organizational competitiveness. IT used to be part of the answer. Now it’s part of the problem and often the bottleneck to necessary change in most organizations.

In a practical way this translates to some great process improvement opportunities getting sidelined in deference to non-IT related solutions which can be implemented much more quickly and inexpensively. Frankly, the problem goes even deeper. Processes which have already been deeply embedded in information technology (and now suffering the imminent and immutable need for change), often require resources from the overloaded IT department and thereby languish for lack of attention.

Why are IT departments in this overload situation in the first place? Some of the reasons you will hear are: Not enough budget, shortages of skilled personnel. I don’t have the numbers, but I doubt it is really the lack of budget. From what I hear out there, IT spending as a percentage of revenue has never been higher. I think it has more to do with the classic approach of treating symptoms or fixing effects, rather than focusing on and fixing root causes.  And it has even more to do with the misguided idea that nothing can be done better outside as well as it could be done inside. The notion we have to have complete in-house command and control of every bit and code. It’s a nasty form of NIH (not invented here) syndrome.

Where does this attitude come from? Some of it comes from fear. Fear that we may become irrelevant in our jobs. This has a natural effect of protectionist behavior. It also comes from pride and arrogance. We are painfully aware of how fast the technology changes, yet just because we have performed well in the past is no indication we will do well in the future. The technology landscape is changing, as is the business landscape, and what worked for us in the past is absolutely no guarantee of future success. There is no room for arrogance or protectionist behaviors if we and our organizations are going to survive.

I know this because I witnessed it once before. My career beginnings in IT were in the mainframe world, which was characterized by heavily centralized control.  By the early 1980s, it became unresponsive to change, and slow to provide needed resources.  Along came the Personal Computer, providing flexible and available computing resources as needed. Even IBM didn’t understand what the demand would be when it was developed. IT shops everywhere fought the PC invasion, but in the end had to accept and then support them.

It’s happening again, my geeky comrades, and fighting it won’t defer it and won’t further you or your cause. Your internal customers need what you aren’t giving them, and it’s only because they understand what the real customer wants and real customers will go somewhere else if they don’t get it. Instead, we need to embrace what is coming and find what best serves the needs of our organizations and their customers.

I'm not one of those in the "IT is Dead" crowd.  IT is not dead or dying. However it is making a huge, if not monumental shift.  Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google put it succinctly: "Don't fight the Internet."  Its corollary: "Don't fight cloud computing." The sooner you embrace the cloud computing concept, the better off everyone will be. Don’t fight “the cloud.” Embrace it! Bring it on!