One of the things I love most about my job is the opportunity it gives me to help Presidents and CEOs of companies who are struggling with the performance of their Information Technology.
Inevitably, the conversation starts with an explanation of how disappointed they are in either system or human performance. Usually there are a number of legitimate system issues that are impacting the ability of the business to perform as the CEO expects.
As our discussions progress, the topic of the expectations of the current IT solution (whether internal or outsourced) becomes the focus of our meeting.
Let’s address the expectations of the current IT solution.
Many times, there is one person managing and performing the technical tasks in the organization. In my experience, this type of arrangement will not provide the type of results a company desires. The reason is usually because the best managers are not great technicians, designers, network administrators, or help desk engineers.
The opposite is also usually true. IT is complicated and finding a person or two that can absorb and perform as a CEO expects is next to impossible.
The next logical part of the discussion is accountability. I enjoy helping educate business leaders about IT accountability and Key Performance Indicators. Most companies don’t have metrics to measure performance of technology and technical employees, so they are unable to determine if they are getting progress or excuses.
More often than not, after explaining how to obtain the desired results from technology, the CEO is left with a clear perspective on just what it takes from a human capital and technology point of view to meet his or her goals.
A friend of mine once said, “It takes a village to manage and provide IT results in today’s complex technical world.” I agree.
Good thing we have a small village to help our clients!