The information technology (IT) disconnect

The bad news: There is a huge disconnect between the average IT professional and the other groups in most organizations.

The good news: there is a simple solution.

Disconnection

The average IT professional is extremely busy. With all the systems we support, the applications we develop, the data we store, and the ข่าวIT, it seems impossible to do it all. However, this hustle has caused many of us to seem disconnected from the rest of the organization.

Have you ever heard comments like this?

"Those IT folks just don't understand what we have to do."

"If the programmers knew something about the business we are in, we could make some progress."

"I don't understand why we need a new system. The old one was working fine."

As an IT Communications Doctor ™, let me diagnose these symptomatic claims.

Diagnosis: There is a disconnect between IT and these people, sometimes entire departments.

Forecast: The IT group will struggle to obtain the necessary budget dollars and will be under continuous stress due to lack of achievement.

You may be thinking something like, "Tom, these people just aren't technical enough to understand." Are you ready for the harsh reality? The problem is not entirely with "them". Usually, it's not that they aren't "technical" enough. Generally, we IT professionals are not "commercial" enough.

To connect with your customers, you need to understand them. You must know how they do business. You need to know what your business goals are. You need to realize how they do their job and why they do it.

For example, can you answer these questions about your organization's chief marketing officer?

-What is the main focus of the marketing manager at this time?

-What are some of the problems you are facing right now?

-How does your department research a new product?

I know. You're thinking, "I don't have time to learn these things. I have my own work to do."

You are partly right. You don't need to know all the nuances of how the marketing manager runs his department, but you do need to know the basics. The next time you're tempted to say "That's not my job" like yourself, ask this question:

What is my work?

This is the answer. You are an information technology professional. What does this mean? It means that you implement, manage and / or develop technologies that are used to manage, store and / or deliver information. Did you understand that? Information. Information!

How can we implement technologies to manage information if we do not know what information we need to handle or how our CLIENTS should handle that information? We can not.

That is why we must remember that our job is to understand how our organization operates from a business perspective.

If I am a database administrator, I need to understand how our databases are used. I need to know why the information is stored, how it is retrieved, and at least basically what it is used for.