Logically, an IT department implicitly understands the latest technology better than anyone else in the business. Why this may be true historically, James West says that IT’s mastery of tech is slipping and why refusing to try the latest tools and services is an attitude that may soon haunt technology professionals.
While most commentary about social media focuses on its relentless growth and transformative impact on communication, few speak about how its ability to polarise opinion. Some people (including you) may view Twitter and Facebook as a meaningless time wasting voids populated by people eager to tell you how fantastic their lives are.
You may argue you are entitled to take or leave social media. But I’m sorry to say that if you work in IT, you are not.
I’m constantly surprised by the number of smart technology professionals I know who refuse to use social media. They feel so strongly about its evils, they will not even spend 30 minutes of their lives poking around and finding out whether their pre-conceptions are correct.
In my opinion, this is unforgivable and helps explain why attempts to align IT with the rest of business have seen limited success.
Admittedly, you may not be a great communicator, and you may never extensively contribute to social media conversations. But what’s wrong with being a passive observer? Twitter allows its users to gauge reactions to events, business developments and technologies – it offers a window on the public’s opinion of IT, what is working and in demand, and what causes frustration. It’s a cliche, but your customers may already be talking about you and your services on social media, or on a public forum. Refusing to listen is not really any different to ignoring a call to the service desk.
Using social media can be annoying and demands users constantly filter information. But if you persist and use it correctly, it can be a powerful tool for learning and sharing ideas. (On that note, if you are on Twitter but don’t feel you get value, follow the people on this list as they are all active users contributing useful advice and knowledge in the ITSM/service desk space.)
Arguably the bigger problem to address here concerns IT professionals being – seemingly contradictorily – technophobes. Social media, whether you like it or not, is an IT tool that people in your business use. If you don’t have even a basic understanding of it, you are no longer an IT expert, and should be therefore fearful for your future.
The same is true of any technology, particularly those affecting the workplace. You may think that tablets are a gimmick that will never replace laptops, but many of your work colleagues love them. As with the social networking example, you don’t need to know everything about tablets; you don’t even have to like them. But you must have an understanding of them if you are to remain relevant to your business.
Arrogance and narrow mindedness
IT teams in years gone by could rely on their superior technical knowledge to retain their status as technology gurus. This situation has created a level of arrogance and narrow mindedness. You may despise Apple for running such a tightly controlled system and for the cultish fandom it inspires, but people in your business are using Apple products out of personal choice. And if you refuse to learn about Apple on this basis, then I guarantee there is someone in your business, outside of IT, that knows more about Macs than you do, because they have taught themselves. If this individual has colleagues asking them Apple support questions about because they know the service desk doesn’t discuss Macs, is he or she more valuable to certain parts of your business than you are?
It’s a frightening thought, but if more people choose to bypass the traditional procurement/support model, then what will the service desk do? Taken a step further, if you and your team no longer have a clear technology knowledge advantage over the rest of the business, what value do you bring?
The traditionally setup, with the IT department and the service desk giving staff computers and offering them support when things go wrong, is no longer relevant. The majority of individuals can fix basic IT issues and search Google for anything they don’t immediately understand. Yet the core of IT and the role of the department – helping people use technology – has not changed. However, the technologies and services in use have moved on dramatically and IT professionals face a clear choice: keep up or find another career.
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Running a service desk in an arts organisation means we have taken these issues on board; as well continuing to work with people who want us to organise everything for them. Main prob with Apple etc in the business environment is sharing info securely and effectively. However with a huge range of user roles, ability and IT affinity means custimising solutions and engaging with user requriements. Also means IT people have to enjoy that kind of challenge and have good comms skills.
To a point there is possibly some truth in this, in that it is important to keep up with what the users will be expecting tomorrow and what they think of you today. There were more than a few IT directors caught out when Blackberrys (et al.) exploded into ubiquity having initially dismissed them as gimmicks.
But… corporate IT departments exist to run business applications not to provide Facebook to hungover PAs to see what they type; saying that you can’t be an IT professional without being glued to “Eaten my breakfast #CoCoPops” is equivalent to disbarring a car mechanic who doesn’t spend his evenings in the local Sainsbury’s carpark. Your marketing department needs to be able to work social media sites if your media image requires that, but otherwise your IT department has probably more business remit to block access to them than enable it. All of your users under 30 will be looking at them on their smartphones under the desk all day but that doesn’t make them the new Killer Business App.
I don’t think IT professionals are technophobic when it comes to social media. Blindly embracing new technology just because a lot of other people are doing it is not a good enough reason to start using it yourself. I think this point is proven by the amount of news articles regarding company employees airing dirty corporate secrets on social media or even email. The business need for social media has to have a purpose and ultimately achieve something it would not have had if it didn’t use it.
I agree that the traditional way of doing things has to go and IT professionals have to be smarter when it comes to new technology. But this does not mean you green light everything. The way forward now is to enable the user community through education on using these services, so the business can still take advantage of them, which will enable IT to stay ahead of the curve. This way security and integrity is not compromised. IT professionals have a responsibility to maintain integrity and security, regardless of the latest technology that comes by.
The role of IT then becomes one of enabling without hindering the objectives of the business, whilst also standing strong on its reputation and purpose.
Of-course the role of a corporate IT Division is to enable, enthuse and to do so safely. Who is blamed when integrity is compromised? Yes, you know!
But the article does point to a valid observation, that IT departments tend to be too conservative. We are often dragged kicking and screaming toward web based technology by other parts of the business. The solution ought to be for the profession to become more vision centric. But how many people do you know in IT who’d love to do the forward looking thing, but are just too busy?…..
Some of the points made in this article are valid but others, such as fixes from outside the department, are more to do with a much wider management or governance problem within the organisation.
The IT department exists solely to provide IT services that support the business in achieving it’s objectives. If the business requires social media then the business should ensure that it’s IT service provider can support it. On the other hand if the business doesn’t require it shouldn’t be available, or at least controlled and monitored like all other Internet access.