The IT Prime Directive of Business First Contact
Jim Harris in Sponsored Blog Posts tagged Business-IT Collaboration, Enterprise CIO Forum, HP, IT Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 11:00AM This blog post is sponsored by the Enterprise CIO Forum and HP.
Every enterprise requires, as Ralph Loura explains, “end to end business insight to generate competitive advantage, and it’s hard to gain insight if the business is arms length away from the data and the systems and the processes that support business insight.”
Loura explains that one of the historical challenges with technology has been that most IT systems have traditionally taken years to deploy and are supported on timelines and lifecycles that are inconsistent with the dynamic business needs of the organization, which has, in some cases, caused technology to become a business disabler instead of a business enabler.
The change-averse nature of most legacy applications is the antithesis of the agile nature of most modern applications.
“It wasn’t too long ago,” explains John Dodge, “when speed didn’t matter, or was considered an enemy of a carefully laid out IT strategy based largely on lowest cost.” However, speed and agility are now “a competitive imperative. You have to be fast in today’s marketplace and no department feels the heat more than IT, according to the Enterprise CIO Forum Council members.”
“If you think in terms of speed and the dynamic nature of business,” explains Joseph Spagnoletti, “clearly the organization couldn’t operate at that pace or make the necessary changes without IT woven very deeply into the work that the business does.”
Spagnoletti believes that cloud computing, mobility, and analytics are the three technology enablers for the timely delivery of the information that the organization requires to support its constantly evolving business needs.
“Embedding IT into an organization optimizes a business’s competitive edge,” explains Bill Laberis, “because it empowers the people right at the front lines of the enterprise to make better, faster and more informed decisions — right at the point of contact with customers, partners and clients.”
Historically, IT had a technology-first mindset. However, the new IT prime directive must become business first contact, embedding advanced technology right at the point of contact with the organization’s business needs, enabling the enterprise to continue its mission to explore new business opportunities with the agility to boldly go where no competitor has gone before.
This blog post is sponsored by the Enterprise CIO Forum and HP.
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Reader Comments (2)
From the LinkedIn Group for Enterprise CIO Forum, Pearl Zhu commented:
I have a couple of thoughts:
1. For the large-scale, multi-year planning project, we may not only ask whether any alternatives (such as cloud, partner,etc) are available rather than completely in-house developing, but, as we discussed with the seasoned CIO on the other board, the best practice is to break it down into a few smaller projects with interim destinations and shorter life cycle, so that it could be tactical in today's dynamic environment.
2. Application Modernization: as we discussed via your other post: How to manage the application portfolio wisely via leveraging the value, the life cycle, the culture and the latest technology.
3. When you talk about business first, the CIO may also be concerned about the "Shadow IT" or "overly-spoiled internal customers" with overwhelming latest technologies, or the business may purchase their own Cloud-based solution without notifying IT, so leveraging the budget with the customer's requirements or embedding the radical transparency into the radical transformation could be the other challenges for today's organization.
And I responded:
As always, thank you for your great comment, Pearl.
To your first point, yes, CIOs and IT departments must embrace using cloud-based and other non in-house options in order to meet the demands of today's dynamic business environment.
To your second point, yes, as we have previously discussed, managing and balancing the application portfolio between legacy and modern applications is essential.
To your third point, yes, "Shadow IT" is the constant threat to the relevancy of a centralized IT department, and the leadership role of the CIO. Therefore, transparency must accompany transformation, both of which are indeed difficult challenges for today's organizations.
Best Regards,
Jim
Totally agree that, as you say, the "new IT prime directive must become business first contact."
But I wonder if the typical IT response is much too analytical. Aligning IT with business doesn't always necessitate new systems, but begins with a thoughtfulness and respect for employees, customers and partners alike. A great example comes in a video interview with Campbell Soup Co.'s CEO-elect Denise Morrison and CIO and SVP Joe Spagnoletti. Spagnoletti describes IT driving a "culture of consideration."
Paul Calento
(Note: I work on projects sponsored by Enterprise CIO Forum and HP Instant-On Enterprise)