Keeping up, looking ahead

Of all the issues facing IT managers each day, the overarching challenge seems to be finding a balance between predictability in day-to-day IT operations and supporting forward-looking experimentation that creates progress.

Although stability is important to any IT operation, a retrograde IT department that reflexively takes a wait-and-see attitude toward anything new dooms itself to irrelevance. After all, the fundamental mission of IT is to serve real business needs with available technology. You can’t do that running in place.

In certain IT departments, the leadership takes a fearful “half empty” view of almost anything. Wi-Fi? IT rushes to point out security issues without recognizing the benefits of mobility and just-in-time access to information in meeting areas. Instant messaging? IT dismisses IM as on-the-job chatter, ignoring IM’s benefits in fast-paced, collaborative work environments. Many IT departments that display

a “can’t do” attitude might not even realize

they fall into this camp, but the signs are usually crystal clear.

For example, if employees opt not to use their work-issued, IT-supported equipment, then IT has a serious problem. I heard recently about a company with PCs that were so locked down, one employee actually threw in the towel and brought his own laptop to work so he could get “real” work done. The official work PC was safe from the evil forces of junk shareware and spyware, but it also happened to be productivity-proof.

In cases like these, the IT manager needs to have a serious conversation with the user to understand what roadblocks are in the way of getting work done. When legitimate needs for one user are not being addressed by the existing IT environment, there could be fundamental systemic problems in your company’s IT environment — but you have to engage with users to find out.

Another sign of being too conservative is when employees make an end run around IT and start bringing new technology to work in noticeable numbers. If a quorum of employees starts bringing in PDAs, for example, IT should not recoil in horror and pronounce that the new devices are unsupported. A better strategy would be to work with the users to understand why and how they are using these devices. If several employees are using PDAs and the organic spread of PDAs seems inevitable, an opportunity exists to jump ahead of the curve and define a corporate standard. Even if a real constraint prevents IT from formally supporting PDAs, I think IT should at least make informal recommendations. If handled improperly, such a recommendation could turn into a slippery support slope, but when handled well, the soft benefits of promoting even informal collaboration between employees and IT staff probably outweigh support issues.

Aside from keeping the IT trains running on time, the most important job of IT is to continually evaluate new technologies and sort the technology wheat from the chaff while keeping a close eye on what business challenges could be addressed by new innovations. And, of course, working closely with employees to apply new and relevant technologies to business problems appropriately. If IM has taken hold at your company, did IT make it happen — or did it happen to IT? The difference might be the ultimate relevance of IT at your company — and eventually your job.