The IT Department: Still the Same?

During much of my tenure as an IT journalist and research analyst, the general perception of the corporate IT organization by the rest of the business was one of disdain. In short, IT got no respect and, in some cases, it deserved little or no respect. It was seen as insular, a place where the geeks hung out - usually in a corner - to test new whiz-bang technology that may not necessarily be a help to the business as a whole. It lacked people skills and was more concerned with technology than the overall health of the business.

Fast forward a few years and there are signs of respect emerging. For one, the rise of the Internet as a commercial tool has helped boost IT into a major player. Better applications that have been a help to customer relationship management have been instrumental in keeping customers and increasing revenue. Add to that the fact that more "end user" workers have technical chops today than a decade ago, and you have the foundation for a better understanding of IT and the business units that can benefit both sides.

Now, there may be evidence that IT is indeed finding religion and providing a lot more value for the business. Recent research from The Hackett Group concludes that companies that are top performers in IT "business value management" also outperform their peers across a wide range of financial and profitability metrics. What's even more encouraging is the potential melding of IT and the business units through what another research firm calls "enterprise guerrilla application development," involving applications developed outside the IT organization by technically competent information workers in the end-user business units. "End users who used to be wholly dependent on IT will start relying on enterprise mashup platforms in a bid to be more self-sufficient in their application development needs," said Vishwanath Venugopalan, analyst at The 451 Group. "IT departments will seek to cede just enough control to empower end users while maintaining a consistent operating environment that adheres to regulatory requirements."

So, rather than being judged solely on its efficiency (read: keeping its own costs as low as possible), there are some forward-thinking organizations who are seeing the effectiveness of IT in boosting revenue and profitability, and how it can work with the entire enterprise to help spur business growth. I'm sure there are companies that still judge IT by its ability to spend less. If they're serious about growing, they'll have to rethink their metrics.