* Where is your IT group now and where will it be in the future?
One reads all the time about changing technologies and changing requirements for IT organizations, but outside of the fairly binary question – are you shrinking or growing? – very little is said about qualitative changes occurring within IT groups themselves. Perhaps this is partly because IT organizations are a fairly heterogeneous lot based on leadership, history, size and vertical industry.
I believe that IT organizations are going through a transformation that will continue into the next two decades: the change from purely siloed teams based on skill sets for applications, networks, systems, storage, etc., towards integrated groups focused on processes such as change and configuration, or holistic service assurance. The rise of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and application dependency mapping solutions are just two examples of movements in this direction.
One force to transformation has a very human face. Call it “culture,” “organization” or “politics,” this force tends to be troublesome but if ignored, strategic initiatives based on two other forces – technology and best practices – will often flounder.
Like many in the industry, EMA has developed a maturity matrix to help IT organizations gauge where they are and how they can expect to embark on a program for strategic IT management initiatives, and it is a cornerstone of our configuration management database (CMDB) adoption practice. While the matrix seems to have a fair amount in common with some other models (let’s assume this is a good thing), EMA’s is a little more tuned to help IT organizations document, define and resolve those cultural/political issues that can reduce technology investments to expensive toys and turn some of the best ideas within ITIL against themselves.
EMA is developing an assessment of IT organizational change – where it is and where it’s going in the coming months. I welcome your input on these and any other areas you feel are worthy of comment:
* The impact (good, bad or indifferent) of ITIL or other best practice initiatives on IT organizational change.
* The impact of mergers and acquisitions within user organizations.
* The impact of changing business models towards increased dependencies on IT services.
* The impact of outsourced services.
* The impact of new technologies, such as CMDB, service-oriented architecture or VoIP.
* The impact of individual personalities and IT leadership.
* Tensions between the data center and the network operations center.
* Tensions between the help desk and operations.
* Tensions in integrating security and storage into the broader IT fabric.
Finally: Where do you think it is all leading and where would you like it all to end up?
Let me hear your thoughts on any or all of these issues. And if airing them (anonymously, if you’d prefer) can help you face the organizational devils in your own environments, I will do my best to give space to your concerns in future columns. E-mail me here.
