Enterprise Shift – It’s Not Just About IT Anymore

IT has stepped up through the COVID-19 pandemic and is now ready to take its seat at the top table. To make this work we can use an enterprise-wide approach and remove the distinction between ‘business and IT’…

You’ll probably have read a million blogs by now that start with ‘there is no return to normal’, or ‘it’s been a year of unprecedented change’. Hopefully that sums up the backdrop to this, without needing to cover old ground. Of course, there is no return to ‘normal’ and change has been monumental. However this has also helped to move a number of areas of IT development forward in months compared to years.  

There’s certainly no return to ‘old’ or ‘the way we used to do things’. The opportunities are here now for the technology industry to really step up and take its rightful place at the top level in every type of organization.

Opportunities are here now for the technology industry to really step up and take its rightful place at the top level in every type of organization, says @barclayrae. Here he discusses. #ITSM #CIO Share on X

Better communications

People in IT are strange creatures. From almost all of my current client projects, I’ve picked up the same thread as follows: IT people have thrived during the pandemic and in many cases they’ve reported that uses of the likes of TEAMs and Zoom etc has actually improved their cross-team communications and collaboration.

Surely this is counter intuitive? Don’t we like to physically engage with people to pick up on non-verbal communications, direct contact, relationship building etc.? When I question this further, I discover that, in many cases, the use of home-working and universal use of collaboration tools has helped to break down IT team barriers and silos that were created in the physical working environment.

Also there’s been more equanimity across people and teams, with a real shared sense of common purpose created from home/remote working. Often it can take years to establish similar shared tangible common goals. The changes have been useful to push progress forward.

I’d still raise the need for people to interact directly however, as I said previously, IT people are strange sometimes… and we cant hide behind our desks.

Shared goals

The sense of shared purpose has been a positive driver for IT teams to deliver to their end users – getting them working from home quickly, supporting them more directly than before. Time after time, when discussing the perception of IT organizations and their services with users and customers, the same messages keep coming back:

‘They’ve been fantastic’, ‘we’re really lucky to have had such a great IT support team’, ‘they’ve saved us and kept the business going’, ‘I didn’t appreciate what they do and how well they do it’.

The common goal has helped to drive IT organizations forward, in terms of how IT people work and collaborate internally. This has led to improvements and focus on user experience. This has been noticed and is hugely appreciated by IT business users and customers. We’re in a ‘honeymoon’ period and we should make the most of this as a time for further progress.

Heroic times

The much maligned and vilified IT department has suddenly emerged as a heroic and highly capable and professional team of heroes. The pandemic has shone a very positive light on the IT services organization.

The question therefore is this – what should we do to take this honeymoon moment in the sun forward? How can we take the opportunity to move towards the ‘strategic partner’ status that we’ve all yearned for? 

The vilified IT department emerged from the pandemic as a heroic and highly capable and professional team of heroes, says @barclayrae. The question now is what should we do to take this honeymoon moment in the sun forward? #ITSM #CIO Share on X

The opportunity

The opportunity is there to build on the goodwill gained over the last year or so, for IT to develop itself more as a trusted partner and business enabler.

There are also the additional opportunities from automation, innovation, digital transformation, plus agile and product management ways of working. This is not about technology or best practice, we need to do more to make these areas work, and work well together.

IT has often suffered from lack of understanding and representation at the board or governance level of organizations.

There are many reasons for this, including lack of business interest or appreciation of technology, including some generational challenges. IT has also been traditionally poor at presenting and representing its value and the tangible benefits and outcomes of its work.

Investment and corporate support has varied across different organizations, many major decisions being made based on incorrect information or analysis, often with disastrous results. This has included many outsourcing decisions, of high value and low-cost teams like service desks, to make relatively minor savings but with significant detrimental impact on service quality.

With improvements in user perception of IT, there’s a clear window of opportunity to present more business-friendly information and get some good decisions made on investment, ongoing support and commitment.

This requires IT leaders to step up consistently, as many more are doing, to be part of the business governance of the organization – i.e. for IT to be offered ‘a seat at the table’, (i.e. the board) and to seize it with both hands. (* See recent books by Mark Schwarz on both IT and business approaches to this.)  

A key element in the success of this will be the ability of the IT organization to present its performance and value in clear business terms – so moving away from transactional SLAs, to XLA or OXMs – experience – and outcome-based metrics.

‘IT’ has to demonstrate that it understands how its products and services contribute to business outcomes as well as user and employee experience. The days are gone of IT teams presenting unconnected operational statistics about only what IT does. This can impact on trust if the experience does not match user experience of how well IT has delivered – or not.

With improvements in user perception of IT, there’s a clear window of opportunity to present more business-friendly information and get some good decisions made on investment, ongoing support and commitment, says @barclayrae. #ITSM #CIO Share on X

ESM and corporate governance

The biggest opportunity for value-based improvements in technology and business integration is still to be fully understood and approached. This is in how organizations can fully develop cross functional collaboration – across teams, departments, divisions, and value streams.

Enterprise working (currently referred to as ESM or enterprise service management) is effectively an internal approach to digital transformation, whereby teams use shared platforms, practices, processes, and reporting mechanisms. This supports the overall governance of the organization, and will be significantly enhanced if IT is involved ‘at the table’, as a partner in the definition and delivery of this governance.

‘Governance’ of course is often seen as a rather drab function, but this is a key element in the setting and managing of business goals.

Governance also requires ongoing monitoring and analysis of progress, in order to be able to make appropriate decisions and changes in flight as these are needed. This in effect is what we do in service management and how we can contribute to our organizations as a whole.  

We can apply our skills, experience, and knowledge to drive more consistency and value across organizations, as opposed to just being an internal supplier within them…

Summary

We can capitalize on the improved value and perception of what we do in IT – we do need to develop and change our mindsets, be open to new taxonomy and ways of working, and also be ready to take responsibility and make decisions when needed. Good governance is important but also, we need to step up to operate with a business (not just a technology) mindset.

As IT people we need to be prepared to ‘step out to step up’ – we must be ready to engage with people across teams and divisions. We can do that to some extent with the likes of TEAMs and Zoom, strange creatures as we are. However, our success will depend on a multi-level approach to managing communications with a variety of different people, in different situations.

We need to capitalize on the improved value and perception of what we do in IT says @barclayrae. Here he looks at how. #ITSM #CIO Share on X

Enterprise Shift is not a new technology or methodology. This is about how we effectively work and communicate with different people, with different skills and mindsets, in order to achieve success together.

Enterprise Shift – it’s not just about IT anymore.