Like me you may see many articles in press and trade magazines, telling of the demise of the IT department. “Change now or be dead in 5 years time”,” Be more aligned to the business to survive”, ” Talk business not technology if you want to keep your job”. I find these of interest but also amusing. On the one hand there is much truth in what they say, on the other I find the forcefully articulated points often void of context. It is this context e.g. what size are you? what does your business demand from you? and what are your priorities?, that defines to what extent an IT department needs to change. These articles are regularly written from the context of a large IT department in a blue chip corporate, commenting on how IT can appear to have broken away from the business and how they are following their own agenda (not always the case I have to say). This is a very different context to a SME car dealership with an IT department of 2 people who can not survive without being totally integrated within the business. Such IT teams often do not have the luxury of creating grand plans and strategies, rather the priorities are keeping the business moving effectively and efficiently, whether it be through supporting the IT infrastructure or making rapid changes to key business applications. In many ways smaller units have to exhibit the characteristics that their bigger cousins desire, just to stay in a job.
Does this mean that small is beautiful? In some ways yes, but just as small IT departments can be close to the business decision making and respond with agility, there are limitation beyond simple scale, which can inhibit small units. A small IT department will often have a very short planning time frame, with many considerations being about the here and now. This means that they may miss out on new technology advances and the benefits of real step changes that the capabilities of things like Unified Communications can bring an organisation. This is a real dilemma. It all comes back to the role of IT department.
In the past keeping the lights on was enough, not anymore. All businesses are looking for greater business value from their IT and their IT departments. For some organisations it is about being closer to the business, for others it about being able to deliver new innovative technology on a shoestring budget. So does your IT department need to change, well yes, it has too just as our businesses change at an ever increasing pace. But of course what change that is, all depends on your context!
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