Our IT Re-Vision in Times of Business Challenge (1994 and Now)

by Bob Benson and Tom Bugnitz, Senior Consultants, Cutter Consortium

Now that the economy is apparently in shambles, it may sound strange to assert that every business now needs to rethink its IT vision. Yet now's the time, for in chaos there often is opportunity.

We've certainly had other points in our history where rethinking IT's vision for the business was necessary. These points primarily were business related, though not always. Most recently, of course, was 9/11, which, among other things, introduced serious security. Previous to that was the dot-com crash and the (still occurring) rethinking of the Internet vision. Earlier, it was the client-server maze, and so forth. In each of these circumstances, the old visions were wanting, and we needed new ones. But what are we envisioning now? Are concerns for cost reduction and cost containment substituting for vision?

We wrote the following in 1994. In thinking about this "vision thing," it struck us that these thoughts are just as relevant today as they were then. {Note: We've changed only the technology references.}

We need an IT vision. More accurately, we need a re-vision because our old ones aren't generally adequate for today's enterprises and tomorrow's competitive circumstances. Why aren't our old visions adequate? It's partly because IT organizational and professional roles are in the midst of radical and fearful change. Technology changes that emphasize IT dispersion are partly to blame; business demands for more flexible, and responsive IT services are also partly to blame. At the same time, the typical enterprise needs to invest in new IT forms and infrastructures that require new, and not well-understood, IT roles.

The sense of business demand (senior manager demand) for IT change grows. In the middle of all this, we're stuck with our old visions and consequences (legacies), an operational focus (the existing systems must continue to run well), a strong set of values (e.g., change management, systems development methodologies), fear about IT (continued disaggregation throughout our enterprise), and our innate distrust (or perhaps fear, as we don't yet get it) of the viability of the new ways to do things (for example, BPM, EA, agile, BI). But perhaps more dangerous, we may have visions that are really IT delivery dominant: thinking of EA, ITIL, BI/Warehouse, etc., from the perspective of the implications for the IT organization.

If we don't have a vital, business-based, future-based vision for IT in the business today, why is that? When we look at the IT profession as a whole, we observe possible patterns that have served as inhibiting factors:

1. Perhaps we've learned to be helpless. We've approached senior management and our peer managers before with our visions, proposals, and hopes for significantly reshaping how the enterprise functions -- many times before -- with less success that we would like. Perhaps this has taught caution and given us a passive approach to business.

2. Perhaps we don't believe any longer. Perhaps we don't have the sort of committed belief in the role and mission of IT that we used to have, particularly as we see skill sets no longer appropriate, ways of doing IT business becoming unnecessary. Perhaps we believe the rhetoric about the dinosaur central IT organizations, the irrelevant IT initiatives.

3. Perhaps we're tired. Technology is bubbling up around us, and it is difficult to keep in front of it all, particularly the new ways of doing things.

4. Perhaps we have fallen into the reactive trap: we do only what the user wants. We understand only what the user understands. We perhaps have lost the ability to promote technology and have become incapable of thinking and acting on business or enterprise-related issues for ourselves. Perhaps we rely on reaction rather than action and look for user direction rather than providing leadership and direction and energy. Perhaps we're no longer capable of acting proactively.

5. Perhaps we're reluctant to press what has been perceived by the business as promoting our self-interest as an IT profession, rather than promoting the interests of the business. Perhaps we focus on IT organization and its role and mission rather than business value.

The real reason for needing vision. These inhibitors are possibilities, but the real reason for needing a revitalized IT vision is that the opportunities and contributions IT can make have changed just as dramatically as the underlying technology has. In many ways, any malaise in the current IT vision lies in the success enjoyed in achieving the significant operational systems that we now call the legacy. In most enterprises, main business processes have had a considerable history of automation and computer applications. In many ways, we've automated all the major business processes. This can lead to the feeling that there's nothing left to be done and the related feeling that initiatives such as reengineering threaten to undo what has been accomplished.

In the narrow sense, regenerating the IT vision is one way to combat the class of problems described above. In the broader sense, the revisioning of IT is an integral step in positioning IT as the primary contributor to future enterprise development. In fact, IT is the vital force for business change. In fact, IT is growing in most enterprises. In fact, new intellectual and leadership challenges exist.

Interesting words for nearly 15 years ago, well before the Internet and dot-com and major business cycles. They do seem equally relevant today.

So what? We believe the current economic climate is exactly the kind of chaos that demands rethinking the IT vision. As in previous chaotic times, the opportunity is there, and IT leadership should take advantage of it. And it isn't cost reduction or cost containment that should be the focus. Certainly, these are times demanding creative stewardship of our IT resources. But this cannot and should not occur in the absence of a compelling IT vision.

The question: Do we have an adequate and appropriative vision for IT today? Does this vision motivate and stimulate further exploration and investment and business commitment? Please let us know how your IT vision is developing, and how Cutter might help. You can reach us at bbenson@cutter.com or tbugnitz@cutter.com.

Sincerely,
Bob Benson and Tom Bugnitz, Senior Consultants
Business-IT Strategies Practice
E-mail: bbenson@cutter.com or tbugnitz@cutter.com