EDS Review of The IT Value Stack - Part 2

Here's the second of three responses to the book review written by Charlie Bess, who writes for the EDS Next Big Thing Blog. (See his complete review here.)

Charlie raises this point:

2. Even though Ade talks about the business value being based on the use of IT, he keeps pounding away that IT is separate and must be "entwined". I'd have bought that argument in the mid 90s when most middle management had little understanding of computers, but that does not hold up today. When he and I exchanged a note about how the "typing pool" has disappeared, I suggest the same thing is happening with "long tail" application development, through the use of mashups and other similar techniques. He does talk about the CIO being the evangelist or enabler, but it was a bit weak for me. IT's days as a separate entity inside the corp. are numbered. Everyone needs to take a hard look at the territory they want to claim for their corporation and prepare the IT organization to make it happen. In Ade's book there is a good tactical framework to do this, and it appears to be a valid means to an end. It's just the end state that I'm afraid could have been more thoroughly explained.

My response:

I work with some of the biggest companies in the world and most middle and senior managers are clueless about what IT can do in respect of cost management, innovation and governance. So I am comfortable with the notion of a business-IT divide.

The fact that we have business/systems analysts patrolling the DMZ between the two parties attests to a serious rift. I agree that the IT department's days are numbered, I am pushing for it. In much the same way as the typing pool used to be a function now everyone does their own typing. So it will be with IT. Thus the IT department's days are numbered, but it’s a relatively big number, in my view.

My perspective on outsourcing is that many providers can do IT better than many end user IT functions. An alert-IT department has the advantage that they know their business processes much better than any outsourcer. As time marches on the technology piece will be trivial, the value will be in the business knowledge. But I accept that where an outsourcer acquires the business expertise then that is a heady combination. Some of the outsourcers have already got this message and have moved their proposition up the 'value chain' by presenting themselves as business outsourcers.

On reflection the book would appear a little harsh on outsourcers. I have no fundamental issue with it. I simply want the IT function to put up a better fight, for everyone's benefit. Your comments will certainly influence my presentations/writing and consulting activities to be more balanced on this.