Technology IS the Business

Let's all do the Happy Friday dance — heel work and jazz hands!

Mark Morrell has an interesting bit of commentary that was posted Monday on CIO.com, titled, Banish "The Business Side". Now I know that some of you IT folks are probably thinking to yourself, "Yeah, yeah, banish them to Toledo or Waco — that's what they get for all the crappy requirements docs I get from them". If so, then you too are guilty as charged; the point of his article is that using this term in IT when referring to who's PC you enable is no longer PC.

I concur — if for no other reason than it's so often vocalized by techies in such a manner that it's meant as an obvious slur; that tell-tale Elvis lip curl that pops up as "The Business Side" is spoken gives it away every time. I would also like to add "Run IT Like a Business" to the roster of derogatory terms as well, for many of the same reasons that Mark points out, plus the fact that it too requires 'Stallone-face' to enunciate.

But, as we learned in debate class, there is always another dimension to any argument, and it takes two to Tango. Just as technology groups should not be inferring that they are somehow quarantined from "the business", the consumer side of the equation should not be abdicating responsibility for their role in technology either; in how they ask for it, control IT costs, consume it, take part in developing it, or how they participate in defining the strategy for it.

Ask any CIO to list the top five critical skill sets or roles that delay getting work out the door, and I'll guarantee you that support from "the business side" is on there. In fact, if you observe closely how someone from sales or HR say's "IT", they make a definite 'gnawing rodent' face as it is uttered. Very derisive.

My point is that both sides are equally guilty of building the wall that exists between IT and "the business" in many organizations, and there are many bricks in it. But at the end of the day, technology is as inherent to enabling general business operations as any other mission critical capacity. Along with sex, money and oxygen, add technology to the list of "Important things you don't think much about unless you aren't getting any".

So, taking a cue from the Rodney King school of business management, "Why can't we all just get along?" Now, everyone — back to work on building out your integrated process framework — change your world.