Talk to Me: The Disconnect Between Business and IT
Monday, May 07, 2007
- CioIndex
The disconnect between business and IT is often lamented. A lot is spoken and written about this chasm. Ostensibly, a lot is done to bridge it. Most would agree with me that still it exists.
Conventional wisdom has it that the root cause of this problem is that business and IT do not understand each other. Business does not understand what IT can do and IT does not get what the business wants done.
Granted, there is truth to this argument.
However, I have yet to come across a business person who does not think IT can do wonders for their business. Similarly, I have not met an IT leader who does not think that understanding the business is important to them.
With this keen desire, why are the two sides unable to understand each other?
I believe that the problem lies elsewhere. It is in the respective perceptions of the two sides on what “understanding” is and how to foster it!
Business is a team sport:
The very fact that we speak of “business” and “IT” as separate entities is a symptom of the lack of understanding of the fundamentals on both sides.
The 80s brought about the dominance of the Japanese in manufacturing. We learnt a key lesson from the Japanese manufacturing success: manufacturing is a team sport.
It turns out that not just manufacturing, business itself is a team sport.
Business and IT are part of the same team. The former is the demand side of business. The latter is the supply or delivery side of the business. Together, they go to market and are either successful or fail. The fact remains that it is the team – not its parts – that succeeds or fails.
The interaction between the members of the business team is not sequential. Business comes up with strategy. IT comes up with the solution once it is handed a business strategy? I disagree.
Members of this business team work together to create the strategy and stay together through execution. Because strategy is never “done” and execution lessons drive strategic “adjustments”. Strategy and execution are part of the same process - they happen in multiple “learn and do” cycles.
In this context, we must stop talking about business and IT “alignment” and start thinking about business and IT “fusion”!
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