IT evangelism

Talking up technology with others in your corporate industry pays dividends.

By Joanne Cummings
Network World, 02/05/01

The cons seem to quickly outweigh the pros when it comes to promoting technology within your industry. Why help a competitor reap gains from technology insights you've fought hard to master on your own? What do you get in return?

Actually, the benefits of such evangelism can be quick, tangible and, most important, economical, according to IT executives.

It's well worth the time it takes to promote technology within your industry, says Mark Sanders, president of the Wall Street Technology Association, a New York organization focused on the IT needs of the financial industry. "You should want people, even your competitors, to adopt the same technologies you're using. When it comes to technology, the more people using it, the less expensive it gets, and the richer it gets in features and functions."

This is especially true for organizations on the leading edge. Although they may feel they have little to gain from sharing their experiences and getting others up to speed on new technologies, the opposite is true.

"You want other people to learn and understand it because adoption takes time," Sanders says. After all, if a technology takes too long to mature, it will be harder for you to make the most of it.

Because those within your industry are more likely to understand the benefits you're reaping, Sanders says they're the people you need to approach.

Thanks to the, it's easy to compare notes with your peers. "If you want to discuss IT strategy with someone in your industry, most people are just a mouse click away," says David Ballard, executive director for the Office of Infrastructure Services at the Commonwealth of Kentucky in Frankfurt, Ky., and president of the National Association of State Telecommunications Directors (NASTD). The NASTD Web site at www.nastd.org fosters information sharing among government IT staffers via online discussion groups and white papers.

The more time you talk technology with others in your industry, the more time you save on future decisions and deployments.

Talking Techie

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Talking to his counterparts in public transit organizations around the country gives Paul Skoutelas the inside track on the drawbacks of deploying IT. "Technology can be expensive, and you don't always see the payoff immediately," says Skoutelas, CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pa. "But by sharing information with others in our industry, we can think through all those business aspects in advance of making any major decision for a capital investment. That's proven to be especially helpful to us here."

So helpful, in fact, that Skoutelas and others in the transit industry organized their first-ever industry conclave focused solely on IT issues. The conference, TransITech, was held last week in San Diego.

"The transit industry has been slow to adopt new technology, primarily because we operate in the public sector, and financing is an issue," Skoutelas says. "But the more we read about other industries and the gains they're making in technology, the more we see it as a need for us. We're charged with doing a better job of servicing our customers, and if we can do that at a lower cost and in a more efficient way, that's what's important."

Procurement is one IT area in which the transit industry lags behind. "Our industry probably spends 70% or 80% more than others on procurement simply because we haven't automated enough or invested enough in technology to make us more efficient," says Maureen Bertocci, CTO at the Port Authority of Allegheny County. "If we can show others in the industry some of the real economic benefits to technology, that will make a big impact for them, and us."

Another bonus to promoting technology is that when others decide to adopt products or services you espouse, you can band together to wield clout with vendors or regulators. "Getting together in an organization like the NASTD gives all of us a unified voice that speaks louder than any of us on our own," Ballard says.

The NASTD recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission about the Universal Service Fund because state networks support schools and libraries. "There was the perception that schools and libraries were going to have to go out and find new Internet services," Ballard says. "We were able to show that we provide those services already."

This meant that states could receive discounts on services purchased on behalf of agencies covered by the fund.

But what if there is no formal organization designed solely for IT professionals in your specific industry? "You can always find a peer group and make the time to discuss the impact of technology," Ballard says. "Simply asking prospective vendors for references can quickly put you in touch with people in your industry who are using the same technologies to solve similar problems."