Bridging the gap between IT and the Business

The Business (a generic term for those parts of the organisation charged with making the money!) have ever increasing IT requirements in order to support their goals. However they are not IT literate and often make do with what they know rather than try to find ways to improve their systems and processes.

IT professionals, on the other hand, while very comfortable with IT and applications, often do not understand business goals and outcomes.

This creates a formidable barrier between the two groups.

In the engagement between IT and the business, the IT professional, whether an external consultant or internal IT professional has to be able to understand the business outcomes desired. They cannot talk about .net, Java, web applications etc. but rather how the business outcome might be achieved.

So for example if a business unit runs a bunch of Access databases, Excel spreasheets etc. to manage a number of clients, and then aggregates them manually into a larger sheet for reporting, the appropriate discussion is not about how this all could be achieved in SQL Server and possibly SQL Serve Reporting Services, but rather in terms of, having all information stored in one location, allowing many users to update the information at the same time, grouping common information into the one place and then using a tool that they are familiar with (such as Excel and pivot tables) to report on the information. SQL never need come up in the discussion.

This does require a signficant paradigm shift for the IT professional. They need to be consultants, understand what the business wants to achieve, avoid speaking in technical terms and be patient. And then they need to deliver on their promises.

A successful IT Pro in an organisation is well in their way to achieving higher ranks, such as the CIO, since their past performance and track record will create strong support from the breadth of the organisation