Why "Business IT" in 2015?
Technology has clearly invaded almost every aspect of our daily lives ... our personal lives as well as our business lives. This is particularly true in the developed world, but I would argue it is also true in the developing world. Spend any time in the developing world and I suspect you will be as amazed as I was at how much technology is even available in countries that have so little infrastructure in place. You won't find ubiquitous Starbucks' or other public Wi-Fi sites, but almost everywhere it seems you can use a smart phone. Smart phones today are access ports to the world of the internet.
Given the increasing ubiquitous nature of technology around the world, it seems surprising to me the wide gap in understanding between the business world, particularly business leaders and users, and information technology professionals. Maybe it is just the nature of technologists ... programmers and their ilk ... to be so deep into technology and the unique language required to manipulate technology, that makes it so difficult for them to clearly and effectively communicate with business leaders and users. Our increasing familiarity with technology through smart phones and more friendly technology like tablets and applets is actually making the communication gap wider. Corporate technology leaders frequently face puzzled business peers and users who are delighted with the ease of installing and using apps bought at Apple's Application Store or Google's Application Store and don't understand why the investment of money and effort is so great for corporate applications.
I find this gap in understanding exciting. I get a lot of pleasure from seeing the lightbulb go on for a business executive when they finally understand the challenges and issues with technology projects ... and how their direct involvement can help resolve the problems. I also get a lot of pleasure when the eyes of application developers and project managers are struck with the lightening bolt of understanding what the business users are asking for.
I would have thought as technology became more pervasive in our society these gaps would shrink. So, I look forward to using this blog medium to help, in some small way, close this gap of understanding. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences developed over years of working with customers when I was with IBM, clients when I was a McKinsey & Co., Inc. consultant and the leaders and users at McKinsey when I was in McKinsey's internal IT function. I will also share articles I find insightful on these topics.
