Recently, several vendor initiatives, most notably IBM, are targeting individual vertical business infrastructures in much this same way. But this idea is much bigger, even, than IBM. Technologies and services from a whole host of companies and services can and should apply. And while the equivalent of an ITIL guidebook for doing this doesn’t yet exist, the processes and skill sets for dialog, consensus building, defining priorities and documenting processes across multiple groups all still apply. Just think, with a modest but creative investment in instrumenting business infrastructures your chosen IT technologies and more importantly, you and your organization, may begin to show value in a whole host of new and unexpected ways. And while new opportunities often come with associated headaches, the upside for you and the IT industry as a whole is high.
So, the notion I’d like to put forward to you as CIOs is that just as you need to lead the charge in supporting organizational transformation and its associated technologies within IT (CMS, IT process automation, etc.), you have an opportunity to promote IT services and technologies in a broader business context. And when, you may ask, is it time to start to think more creatively about extending IT resources in support of business needs? While it may seem counter-intuitive, this may just be the perfect moment to get credibility and support for a more innovative use of IT. The fire in the belly exists in many businesses and organizations across many verticals to act now. This time around, vs. 2001, you are squarely part of the cure and not the disease.
Dennis Drogseth is vice president of Boulder, Colo.-based Enterprise Management Associates (www.enterprisemanagement.com), an industry research firm focused on IT management. Dennis can reached at [email protected]