e-biz
putting the 'e' into business
Friday 16 May 2008, 9:26 PM
IT Departments Are More Than A Fixer
It’s probably fair to say that the majority of end users still perceive IT as a support function. The general perception by those in cubicles is that the IT department’s main function is to maintain existing systems and provide IT support when something goes wrong.
Most of us contact our IT department every day, especially when Facebook won’t load or we want to change our display picture in Windows Live Messenger, and most of us would say that our IT requests were completed within a few hours. Only a handful of unlucky sods have to wait over 24 hours.
But wouldn’t we like to have a more automated IT support system to enable greater self-help? Nah, that would mean we have to do stuff ourselves, which means no downtime to chat and make coffee. Plus, while the IT department is vital in the day-to-day running of an organisation, we don’t want the power trippers to get above their station and see themselves as a strategic business unit responsible for implementing change. Or do we?
Innovation can often be sidelined due to the time-consuming management of repetitive tasks, with the IT department dealing with standard requests rather than concentrating on driving strategic change initiatives such as the introduction of new services. This indicates that either the majority of IT departments are offering basic levels of IT support without really embracing their potential as a business change-maker, or are ineffective in communicating their value and goals to the rest of the organisation.
Despite IT support ranking high on the list of end users’ priorities, the true potential of the IT department has yet to be fully tapped. The sheer volume of daily requests from end users suggests that most IT departments are purely fire-fighting - they’re bogged down in day-to-day activities because they don’t have the right systems in place to deal with repetitive, routine requests effectively.
Given the high volume of end-user enquiries and the length of time taken to fulfil many requests, your IT department is probably spending too long on the type of activities that could be dealt with more effectively through the adoption of more automated processes or a self-help system.
Too much time is being wasted on ‘reinventing the wheel’ because solutions to common problems aren’t being properly recorded and shared among support staff. Similarly, many basic but time-consuming issues - such as password resets - could be dealt with by users themselves if only they were provided with the right tools. The sooner organisations give users more autonomy the sooner they can free up more time to dedicate to driving strategic change initiatives within the business itself.
If CIOs and IT directors want to have real influence in the corporate decision-making process, they need to be more effective in making themselves heard within their organisations. This is another way in which better automation and monitoring of business processes can help. The bottom line is that IT departments have to prove their worth if users’ perception of IT continues to undervalue the role it plays within an organisation.
I’m sure the majority of CIOs or IT directors do not have systems and processes in place to make IT changes effectively, while also lacking solutions to automate the handling of day-to-day IT service and support issues. It seems likely that the daily demands on the IT department are hindering CIOs from delivering ‘great’ IT services i.e. services that can make a real strategic difference to an organisation. It's time to look differently at the Geek Dept.
PreviousComments on this post
This comment has been deleted at the users request
