Establishing a common language for business and IT people to be able to communicate effectively is just part of an overall approach towards IT, which is needed in order to ensure alignment between business and IT.
As the demand for IT in every facet of a business grows, and applications, services and infrastructure are added, the complexity of the entire IT solution increases exponentially. If IT is not being discussed at executive level, there is little opportunity for the business to take a holistic view on the role of technology and how the business could adjust, or even remodel itself, to take full advantage of the value it could add.
"The problem needs to be addressed from both sides. Both business and IT people not only need to be able to understand the other's needs, but they must also appreciate what is required by the other to fulfil those needs. This is the only way the cost debate can be replaced by a value discussion," comments Chris Welham, Director for Space Age Technologies - an IT company that recently launched the Relevant IT framework, which provides small and medium companies with a roadmap for guiding business executives and IT professionals on a journey towards integration.
Too often, business leaders talk about their IT departments in terms of the things they're not allowed to do, the applications they can't run, and the seemingly lengthy time required to get anything done. Not to mention the frustrations of speaking different languages. None of this is a good foundation for a sustainable relationship between the two. There seems to be no way for business to explain to IT what it is that they want, and to IT people, it feels the business does not appreciate what they are trying to do.
For IT to add sustainable value to a business, business and IT people must develop a way to communicate, similar to the way business and finance people do. Business people all understand an income statement, terms such as revenue, gross profit, expenses and cash flow. This "language" avoids the detail of credit, debit, journals and other more technical accounting terminology. Yet, when IT communicates with business, there is no commonly understood, high level language.
Often, the only mechanism for communication is the IT budget, if one even exists. But this tool addresses IT at a detailed level, so that few business people are able to relate the various components in the budget to business value. It is no wonder that the one term in the budget the business person understands - cost - is the one he or she focuses on.
"Closing the language barrier between business and IT requires a change in mindset and a willingness on the part of both parties to come to a shared understanding. While this journey may take several years, the end result for both industries is definitely something worth working towards," concludes Welham.
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Space Age Technologies
Space Age Technologies is an IT company with 19 years' experience and a reputation for continuously striving to set the bar higher.
Established in 1994, with the aim of making a difference for small and medium businesses, Space Age has consistently been a leader in the IT field, often competing with internationally recognised enterprise IT businesses much larger than itself. It has garnered many awards over the years that highlight its unique collection of expertise and its drive to be the best.
The company cultivates an ethos of pioneering - it does not seek to follow, but question the status quo, and thrives on being first to see an opportunity, and to pursue it. Its latest offering, Relevant IT, was born out of this mindset and the desire to help customers use technology to run and grow their businesses. The Relevant IT framework aims to bridge the chasm that is the business-IT divide, helping business and IT leaders come together to exploit technology for competitive advantage and business growth.
For more information, visit www.spaceage.co.za.
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