New World Order

Downtime kills a business and for the first time, businesses are beginning to realize that technology is not simply a tool, but a strategic business line to be invested in.  The simplistic view that technology is simply an application on a desktop is one that is shifting due to the pain realized from technology failures that are not right in front of a user.  If something breaks, people want to see smoke and fire.  In IT when things break they just stop working.  Nothing visible, no strange odor of burning rubber… nothing.

Today, more and more businesses are moving away from looking at IT as a means to an end and more as a business capable of adding true value.  The key to doing this involves developing and supporting the  proper implementation and management of IT.  Not too unlike that of a sales force or any other business line.

What you now have is an environment where the business understands the impact technology has on its bottom line.  You also have IT management breathing a sigh of relief that they now have the attention of the business.  The challenge for IT is to change direction from focusing on “time to market” growth demands to one of stability and strategic growth in a managed amount of time.  In most industries this amounts to a shift from a “whatever it takes” mentality to one that is very much structured and process driven.  The latter also introduces a new era of two way communication between IT and the business.

In a very real sense, the skills needed to succeed in technology are also shifting.  Of course the demand for core technology specialists is still required, however, a hybrid specialist is needed to fill the gap in areas of technology that are process and strategy driven.  An individual who is very much aligned with the business vision to assist technology in realizing the contribution to the overall goal while at the same time, someone who can also introduce new technology to the business which outlines the value add of implementing the new technology.

It would appear that the only individuals who are living in this space between the business and technology are the ones who already have the skill set needed to fill a more strategic role in the organization.  These are the IT Support professionals, Project Managers and Business Analysts.  The new world order is expanding their previously over looked value to the organization in bold, new, career enhancing ways.

As an individual whose second career has evolved from swapping Ultra 5s and 21″ CRT monitors on a trading floor, managing an IT service desk, managing IT vendor relationships/contracts, back to the IT Support Account Manager for the previously mentioned trading floor and now to a role that is part of this new world order, I see the potential, the value and therefore have become a “Champion” of the cause.  This is my Camelot.

by Rik Jones