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 Fighting The Good Fight
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2010 – Vol. II
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E-mail article
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Craig Schiefelbein
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CEO/President, Paragon Development Systems, Inc.
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By John Miller
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Q: What's your perspective of the economy and how it's impacting IT?
A: You used to be able to line up economists end to end and never reach a conclusion. Today there's finally a consensus, but, unfortunately, it's about a very slow recovery. One can argue that globally we've moved beyond the two-dimensional boom/bust cycles and will forevermore live in a more complex multi-dimensional ecosystem. In most businesses there's less long-term visibility, and the impact on IT is great.
While most organizations still do annual budgets and planning, they seem to be acting quarter to quarter. For some, they've abandoned "World-class" for "Good Enough."
Historically, most in IT had to innovate to do a lot more with a little more. Today, it's a lot more with the same or less. While stress in IT seems to be higher than ever, this discontentment will prompt innovation for new types of efficiencies.
IT organizations need to work harder than ever to educate those around them on the still-existing difference between "price and total cost of ownership (TCO)." Many were able to slide before with less measurement than is required today.
Q: How do you view the current state of technology and its ability to help IT keep its seat at the leadership table?
A: We're at a key inflection point in our industry. The good news is the stars have aligned, and there has been a recent emergence of technology that can improve agility like never before. While the term "Cloud Computing" is becoming cliché, the fact is there are several recent advancements that are enabling businesses to virtualize so much more than just 12 months ago. Most are so busy in IT that they don't know what they don't know about these new technologies. Many think that when one talks about building a "Private Cloud" they're simply talking about server virtualization. Today, good leaders in IT are also virtualizing storage, I/O, and user-centric capabilities. Those acquiescing that IT is a commodity will not only forfeit some of these benefits, but send their culture in a direction that diminishes innovation and agility.
Q: What are some of the keys to make this happen?
A: There needs to be a cultural shift within IT. Silos must be broken down and tribalism must cease!
It's good that the phone and network team(s) are now one. We're increasingly seeing the server and storage teams merging. But to take advantage of these new infrastructure capabilities, all teams within IT must sit on the same side of the table and map out integrated strategies. Arms need to uncross. It's not "if" the team will think and act as one, but "when." Those who will emerge victorious first will be those who can quickly blur the lines between these IT sub-teams.
Q: It sounds easier than it is?
A: Definitely. If politics is defined by a shortage of information and a lot of emotion, then this is a huge political challenge. Emotions are high, as is job security fear. People need to see that their security will stem from choosing to overcome this. I'm sympathetic to those who live in this ecosystem, but the commitment to overcome these very real fears is a must.
It starts with getting people to buy into the bigger picture; to work with the end in mind. They need to think beyond tactical improvements within their team/technologies and focus on helping their business compete. They need to innovate as a whole on behalf of the business customer, the supply chain, as well as their users.
Q: You talked about Procurement's role. What makes a good marriage between Purchasing and IT?
A: The good marriages have great dialogue between departments, fueled by delivering results (and measuring them). I've heard frustrations from some IT leaders, though, where IT is "at the mercy" of what Purchasing decides when choosing technology and the provider to procure from. I've heard from some Purchasing leaders where they've been caught off guard about an IT initiative, therefore challenging them to do their role. Collaboration is key. Imagine having a need to buy a home. You tell your real estate agent the type of house you want and the community you want to live in. Can you imagine if your real estate agent told you which house you have to buy as opposed to simply negotiating on the house you want to buy? You'd never do that.
The risks associated with compliance are great. Many products (desktop, peripherals, basic servers, etc.) have become so inexpensive that it's easy for some to call them a commodity. I would rather they be called a throw-away. They're just a smaller percentage of the TCO.
Good IT leaders fight for their right to comply only where it makes business sense. This, of course, requires IT to do a better job educating Procurement on the operational impact of complying. There's no SKU for agility. There's no SKU for a Private Cloud or Desktop Virtualization. There are so many things that go into making these things happen, and mass resellers typically don't provide the value to insure the overall success of these objectives.
Q: What's the ultimate success metric in IT?
A: I think there's a better question: What's the ultimate success metric in business? The answer is simple: It's sustainable profitable growth (SPG). There's no shortage of research that SPG stems from customer loyalty, which stems from customer experience.
Therefore, everyone in IT needs to understand how every little thing they do can drive a better business customer experience. They can't drive "better" customer experiences if they don't know what the best in their industry are doing. They need to take an interest in what the best companies in their industries are doing to use IT to drive better agility, efficiencies, and decisional data. They can improve how solutions are rolled out that improve the rate at which their employer captures market share. As I said before, there are companies going bankrupt that just finished a successful user satisfaction survey.
This is a great time to be in IT! Despite the poor economy and tighter budgets, there are so many new tools and ways IT teams can take their companies to better places. They need to see they can't just ask business leadership what they want, they need to show them what can be. This is IT leadership at its finest!
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