The Disconnect Between Management and the Value of IT

DavidHumus writes "According to a Wall St. Journal article top executives at most companies fail to recognize the value of IT, having a tendency to think of information technology as a basic utility, like plumbing or telephone service. The article lists five primary reasons for 'the wall' between IT and business: 'mind-set differences between management staff and IT staff, language differences, social influences, flaws in IT governance (defined as the specification and control of IT decision rights), and the difficulty of managing rapidly changing technology.' Does this fully explain the extreme lack of understanding of IT at high executive levels? The article is even-handed in apportioning blame but touches on a few good points. In particular, how '[m]ost top executives ... think of IT as an expensive headache that they'd rather not deal with.'"

Comments

Re:It's not just management

[EMCEngineer]

Not to be an ass but - Boo-fricking-hoo. Lots of people feel unappreciated in their jobs. I just hear IT whine about it way more(maybe because I read Slashdot). Most IT people seem to think the company would implode if they weren't around for one day. Maybe they get this impression from hordes of idiots bothering them all the time for computer help.

The reality is, IT is overhead. It may make my job, and every else's job, a hell of a lot easier, but it is still a major cost. Spending money on IT past a certain point is unlikely to bring another dime to a company. Once basic networking, servers, vpn, etc. are implemented, IT is just a cost.

How is IT different than a basic utility? Utilities for most business require some facilities management people, and cutting a check each month. IT requires trained personnel, and a much bigger check each month. Managers don't want to spend their time on what they see as something that should always work, like electric power.

Re:utilities are important

[Xcruciate]

Think RAVEN - Remember, Affect Verb, Effect Noun

Just trying to help :)