Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Emerging Enterprise: Strategic IT: Page 9 of 12

How To Be a Player

It's the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma: IT managers at emerging enterprises don't have the time or resources to concentrate on strategic uses of technology because they're bogged down by daily operations. But without the ability to prove they can do more than handle maintenance and support, they can't get additional time or resources to implement new strategies.

And that's just one of the struggles IT managers face as they try to raise their departments' profiles. There are plenty more. So here are a few tips on how to elevate IT's status in your organization:

?? Find tools to maximize time. When you're always putting out fires, you don't have time to think strategically. Using IT tools, such as desktop management or patch deployment, to automate time-intensive tasks can free up breathing room so you can develop business initiatives.

"Building a PC for an artist used to be an all-day job, between hardware setup and software install--now it's down to two or three hours," says Steve Kirk, IT director at Sony PlayStation video-game developer Insomniac Games. He recently spearheaded the implementation of tools to automate software deployment and manage assets, and also deployed a ticketing system to assist the helpdesk in tracking and resolving user issues.

Thanks in part to these timesavers, Kirk has been able to divide his four-person IT department between tactical support and strategic planning.

?? Advocate for IT. Leadership in IT must reach out to decision makers, to play up strategy and point out ways IT can help the business. You won't get a seat at the table if business executives don't know you're there.

"I get in people's faces," says Alice Nesbitt, director of technology at law firm Broad and Cassel, which has offices in seven Florida cities. "I travel around and talk to managing partners, knock on doors. I have staff do that as well."