I am currently involved in what started to be a simple IT needs assessment project for a company that have 30,000+ active workers.
What I found out was a classical case that I experienced around this size companies’ management! The bigger the corporation is the more the IT management feels that they are the ones to be served and they are truly mashing all codes of “real support” ethics!
Ironically this is very true with all the projects that I was involved in the past 10 years in such business.
Taking the advantage of being “high tech” gurus (which is not always true but rather are more “ingorus”!)
Indeed, they keep all other departments to their knees with stalled projects and reshuffling other departments priorities based on their own “limited” capacity – as if they are saying “if we can’t do it, no one else can!” —
Leeching the corporate budget right away and squishing other departments? budgets under the claim of having to improve their standards, and never finish any project on time (in-house mostly promised!). However, CEO’s are mostly convinced that those OUTSTANDING brilliants of the new age MUST be right all the time!
My argument is:
– Why would IT Departments feel like they are the ones to be Servedrather than the whole business with its divisions and subs?
– Isn’t there any way to convince the executive management of any company, that the industry is the drive of business not IT? Where IT function is to be a business support not the business driver?
– What would happen if there is an inter-departmental fight over data/knowledge ownership? (Who owns what?)
I would appreciate hearing others’ opinions in such matter.
Dr. Al Olaimi
olaimi@infonovation.com