It is the view of IT by many, if not a majority, of corporations that IT is a drain on the bottom line, rather than a complex set of talented individuals, tools and control/safety measures that increase efficiency and profits and protect and defend a corporations security as well as its proprietary and intellectual property (to a degree). Its often looked at as a necessary but expendable drain on the bottome line. So they cut staff, salaries or outsource, etc,....
Everyone remaining is required to take on additional work (we're all probably accustomed to this by now...). Then a major rollout may occur, with a timetable and probable budget that is not properly accounted for and planned, and the IT staffers are off and running to meet unrealisitc deadlines and constraints. Working almost endless long weekends to meet deadlines and avoid interruptions to end users who would complain loudly about inconviences caused by upgrades/changes that will ultimately benefit them in ways they can't forsee for now but come to realize after they are trained and accustomed to the changes and extra tools provided. Mostly, they're not trained properly, just expected to learn on the fly or call the help desk. This leads to a help desk getting flooded with calls and less able to determine and respond quickly to high priority/emergency situations. Someone eventually gets blamed but all of IT gets a black eye.
Its changed so much over the last ten years. IT budgets were a higher percentage of total revenue and not subject to the "overkill" scrutiny that it is today. Problem is that in those times IT often spent unneccessarily and ill advised and there was little communication between areas of IT supporting different business groups within an enterprise. This often led to an unnecessary complexity and high number of apps that were unique to each business group and often weren't able to share or incorporate data easily with other business groups and the apps they used.
Redundancy occured, not in terms of safety and viability of data, but in use of multiple apps to perform similar if not identical tasks that could have been performed by a single or at least fewer applications.
IT had become its own worst enemy in those days. Huge expenditures for the mostly fantasy year 2000 hysterical upgrades/compatibility testing and compliance (i do admit there was limited validity to it but not the frenzied reaction that occured and was capitalized on). Budgets were drained. Then the economy threw its punch. IT expenditures from then on were looked at with an inherent suspicion or wariness. Complex cost and ROI projections and studies were needed. Much debate and arguement between competing groups occurred. Better planning and spending requests were then FORCED. Not that this is a bad thing, but it was needed well before and suddenly it became a signpost that IT was a drain, not an asset to be counted in the bottom line. I mean, how can you show the contribution to the bottom line from the efforts and innovations of the IT department as a whole? IT was now required to prove its worth and contribution thru the use and study of "metrics", the scrutiny of its calls for help and the timliness, cost, and effectiveness of its responses. Thus it began to be looked at as a "drain" on the budget. A budget area that could be trimmed and made more "lean".
Everything is expected to continue uninterrupted in an uphill curve for the corps profits. When a problem occurs, IT is looked at as the probable source of the problem and thus an additional, unplanned cost that affects the bottom line.
I don't have a very good view of the upper echelon of Corporate America's decision makers and their use and vision of the technological assets that make it all possible, because they are too beholden to the stockholders and Boards oversight and focus on profits and dividends. I'm not talking about the pie in the sky future possibilities of technology that many seem to have, but the here and now aspect of what drives the enterprise and insures its success, security and profitability.
I've left the corp world behind and started my own business improving the capabilities, efficiency and security of small and medium sized companies.
Its fantastic to work with a new company and design and implement an infrastructure that meets or exceeds initial needs and is planned to easily accomodate future growth and expansion. They have a real edge.
I'm happier and doing well, but heck, I'm still working weekends on installations or upgrades, conversions and rollouts or testing.
Back to the original topic. Its what we have to do and accept at this time. I don't see a way around it. Newer IT staffers are not responsible for the current situation, but their ancestors are because of their giddy budgets and unrealized or reduced gains from changes/expenditures.
I'm able to look at it from both sides, having been on both sides.
