Five Reasons for the IT-business Disconnect and How to Solve It?

Computers and mobility are all-pervasive in today’s digital age. Technology is being embedded in every aspect of the business and is a critical driver of competitive advantage for firms. Yet there is a significant IT-business disconnect in enterprises. A 2017 Forester study reveals only 36% of business users regard IT as aligned with the needs of the business.

If IT leadership has to drive digital transformation, they have to take on the underlying issues causing IT-business disconnect. This tech blog for IT professionals explains how.

1. Bridge the Perception Gap

IT did not exist until the 1990s. This relative newness of IT makes it an outsider, not yet integrated with the enterprise ethos. “Staff” functions such as finance or HR gels in with the enterprise’s accustomed way of work. IT demands changes from the enterprise rank-and-file.

Often, the investments made in IT do not realise tangible benefits. Botched implementations and technology going obsolete fast create fear, distrust, and anxiety. Often, the IT team striving for “alignment” or being a “trusted partner” make the situation worse, as the rank and file resist change.

Make a proactive outreach to understand business realities. For instance, IT decries silos. But business realities may warrant some silos for the protection of commercial secrets or other reasons.

There is no shortcut to competency. Align IT investments to business needs. Ensure the adopted technology suits local ground-level conditions. Often, importing technology without considering the ground-realities ends up in a disaster.

With enterprises realising the value of digital transformation, IT assumes a central role in today’s digital economy. More and more enterprises include the CIO in the strategy formulation and entrust IT leadership with spearheading the digital transformation initiatives.

2. Convert IT from a Cost Centre to a Strategic Enabler

IT always seeks funding for security, storage space, certified personnel, or upgrades. Often, CIOs do not articulate these requests in a way it communicates the business value. IT’s success depends on converting itself from a cost center to a strategic enabler of the business and tactical partner of the operations team.

Do more with less. Just because a technology is old or updated, it does not need replacement. Replace legacy technology only when the incumbent technology is unsustainable. Good reasons for change include security risks, loss of productivity, or incompatible silos.
Seek API or connectors to integrate legacy systems instead of costly overhauls. At times, ad-hoc arrangements may make more business sense than an expensive and disruptive overhaul.
Leverage cloud services to convert CAPEX costs into OPEX costs. It is easier to attribute OPEX costs to specific functions.
Quantify the requests for new software. Convince the C-suite on how investing x dollars will lead to a savings of “y” dollars or generate “z” additional revenue.” Consider the big picture, and see how new software will disrupt the ecosystem. Quantify the cost of such disruption, including training costs. Factor in indirect costs such as loss of productivity because of the learning curve for new technology.

Successful CIOs understand the needs of the business. They show how new technology initiatives address such needs. The feature sets or key functions of new software is incidental.

3. Change the Obdurate Stance of IT

IT says “no” often. With cybersecurity an ever-dangerous threat, IT teams often put the spanner in the works of operational and other teams. IT often stands in the way of innovation or, at times, getting basic things done conveniently. Shadow IT, which arises as a workaround and to get the job done beating red-tape, is a living testimony to IT’s obdurateness.

Educate the rank-and-file on the perils of short-cuts, and the importance of security. Circumventing the laid down procedure does more damage than security risks. It leads to critical gaps in information, where:

Field staff does not have access to critical real-time information
Marketing teams cannot engage with customers informedly
Flawed analysis based on incomplete data leads to poor quality decisions.

Reconcile digital transformation initiatives with the business strategy. Driving transformation just for rolling out new technology increases the IT-business disconnect. For instance, replacing a dated PC with a newer version, or a Windows 7 OS with a Windows 10 OS causes nothing except disruption. It becomes an enabler when the same upgrade is:

Part of a strategic initiative to improve productivity.
Part of a wider package including consistency in all PCs in the enterprise.
Rolled out with training for employees.

4. Manage Change Well

IT has over the years brought about significant changes in the way business works. Emails, ERP, CRM, field management suites, and several other interventions have changed the way enterprises function. Emerging technologies such as AI, IoT and analytics will bring more changes. But change is always disruptive, even if done for long-term sustainability. The reluctance of line managers to disrupt a good status-quo for uncertain or unproven benefits creates a disconnect. Many operational managers and even C-suite go with the mentality: ”if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Convince the rank-and-file on the need for change, and the dangers of not adopting new technology. Tales abound.

Kodak being content with its successful status-quo of film-based technology and ignoring digital technology led to bankruptcy within a few years.
Nokia’s historic blunder on not adopting the new Android technology led to its slide from market leader to irrelevance overnight.

Strive for non-disruptive change. Adopt tools, technology and strategies that demand the least change to the accustomed way of work. Trade-off the benefits of efficiency improvements with the disruption posed by a change of status quo.

5. Overcome the Lack of Business Background

Most business schools lack technology coursework. Most MBAs who use data modelling or make data-driven decisions do not understand the underlying technology. Likewise, most CIOs do not have an MBA degree or a fundamental understanding of the business realities.

Promote cross-functional teams to cover gaps in skills and understanding. Matrix teams with representation from IT, finance, operations, HR and other functional areas improve coordination and promote synergy.

Adopt a customer-first approach to improve sync among departments. Position IT as an enabler of a customer-centric organisational system. Line managers focus on making things easy for the external customers of the business. For the IT team, the line managers or operations team is the internal customer. Making things better for internal customers helps internal customers serve external customers better.

A disconnect between any team is never good for the business. In the predominantly digital post-COVID-19 era, the very survival of the business may depend on bridging the IT-business disconnect.

Andre Rodrigues

As a software and IT solutions advisor, Andre leads a team of technology consultants for implementing Account-based Marketing strategies to IT customers. In his 30 years of working experience, across the region, Andre has helped numerous clients improve existing business systems and IT infrastructure. This experience has helped Andre secure a unique knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by these sectors.