Scott Martin

Is your information technology group an asset or a liability?  I have read many articles on this with varied opinions.  It is true that most IT departments are not a cash cow when it comes to revenue. My view of it is that the IT division can drive revenue indirectly depending on how the division is manages.  A well run IT department that has a reasonable budgetary numbers should drive revenue for other departments much like a trainer would help you get in shape.  A well run IT division should not be reactive to requests from other departments but should engage others to see how technology can help the organization progress.

This step requires a balance of information between the ‘business’ and ‘technology’ areas.  I have worked at a company that viewed the IT people as not business oriented and thus tried to avoid any discussions on the business site with IT.  This caused divisions between the two areas and thus did nothing to progress the organization forward.  Knocking down this barrier required an education on both sides.  One on the IT side to learn the business goals, then in reverse the business side got an education on how technology can assist the business side.

The first thing that I would recommend for any IT management hiring a new employee is to make sure that there is some form of training on the business goals.  Making sure that a new employee understands the business makes them more productive and promotes better team relationships, especially in different divisions.  E-mail and other software issues will arise in any industry, but having the IT division know how your company uses e-mail or any other software application allows them to use their knowledge of technology to help the company grow.

On the flip side, make sure that there are policies in place to ensure that employees are properly trained on the technology being used in the organization.  Having employees trained on the current and future technology makes helps both the employee and the IT department remain efficient.

The question of whether the IT division is an asset or a liability remains on how the department is utilized.  A college education can be used as an asset, if it is used to progress your career, but if it is not utilized then the cost of the education becomes a liability.  In much the same way, investing in the IT division can progress the organization.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 4:58 pm and is filed under IT Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.