While IT professionals interviewed for this story say they are mostly fulfilled in their jobs and think their opinions are strongly considered when it comes to selecting technology, nearly half of respondents say IT doesn't get the respect it deserves within their organizations, in stark contrast to the attitude in the mid- to late-1990s, when they could do no wrong. And the brass aren't the only ones waxing critical. Some IT managers report friction from cubicle dwellers who have gotten so used to configuring their home PCs that they want the same control at work.
"Users think they're more knowledgeable and so they demand more," says John Ries, director of IS at St. Marys Hospital Medical Center in Madison, Wis. "They don't see the need to unify things in the IS department."
Our survey results also suggest that business-line executives are doing more technology strategizing. On average, IT pros initiate 40 percent of technology projects, while units other than IT initiate 36 percent, and 24 percent are initiated jointly. The projects initiated by IT tend to focus on upkeep--upgrading bandwidth, server capacity or other infrastructure--while more business-oriented projects tend to be sparked by non-IT units, according to those interviewed. This is a trend that you should be concerned with because it's the 36 percent of projects that come from other parts of the business that tend to have the most funding and the biggest impact on the IT infrastructure. Not to beat you over the head, but this is key: To stay relevant and move your career forward, you need to crash the party. All it takes is a couple of successful business-enabling projects (read: strategic, not tactical) where IT has influence in the initial planning, and you'll gain huge credibility (for guidance, see "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About the Business of IT (But Were Afraid To Ask)").
For example, the State of Montana's IT department gets a seat at the decision-making table but in the end is usually responsible for only tactical rather than strategic matters, says Mike Hahm, a systems analyst and engineer with the state's department of administration. The executives "set the direction and they leave it to us to select systems to accomplish it," he says. "It's a top-down approach."
"We take orders," says Ries, who laments that he meets "infrequently" with decision-makers on the business side. "If it's infrastructure, we bring it forward, things like network capacity and servers. All the rest is defined by users."
This comment zeroes in on the base problem: Those in Ries' position must take the next step and get involved in the user-project definition. Remember, this isn't always a CxO-level thing--line-of-business managers usually lead these initiatives, get buy-in from the brass, then shift the whole enchilada--half-baked or not--over to IT. You must form alliances with your peers in other business units to help stop this flawed approach. Wander the halls once in a while and ask how things are going.
Joel DeClue, the CTO of Mid-Atlantic Funding in Chantilly, Va., adds that techies need to be more aggressive in putting their ideas forward. "A CTO has to understand budgeting and know what money is available," he says. "What got me this job and keeps me ahead of the game is my business skills."
The IT troops don't necessarily agree with DeClue that business skills are paramount. In fact, they're critical of technology executives who they see as overly business-focused and lacking a strong footing in technology. Asked if they think executive technology management needs to have direct experience working with technology, 85 percent said yes and only 15 percent said no.
The logic behind these numbers is that many of you view technology as Job 1, business as Job 2. Just as foot soldiers want their commanders to know how a rifle works, IT folks want their bosses to understand and appreciate what they do. If their boss is a techie, they're more willing to rally around and support him or her. This is natural but antiquated reasoning. Embracing the business will only boost IT's standing and allow technologists to move into the more influential positions that they have earned.
DeClue thinks IT's decline in stature will mean less advancement to COO and CEO positions. "We have lost some ground trying to break into those ranks," he says. "The CTO and technology directors were making some strong headway into being a valid executive position. Now a lot of those decisions are going back to the CFO."
Indeed. The dot-com explosion appealed to IT folks so much because, in many instances, fellow geeks were running the start-ups. What could be better than a job where you didn't need to explain why technology was important? The fatal flaw in this model, however, was a dearth of business skills. Burn rates meant nothing to techies, but they sure did when investors started wising up. Nowadays, as DeClue says, everything goes back to the CFOs; they control the purse strings.
We're not saying you need to get an MBA, but understanding how the technology you implement gets used is critical.
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