I would be willing to bet that at any company, there are business folks whose inner-geek occasionally cries to come out, and there are IT geeks who would love to help shape corporate strategy.
I would be willing to bet that at any company, there are business folks whose inner-geek occasionally cries to come out, and there are IT geeks who would love to help shape corporate strategy.
Indeed, the melding of business and technology is becoming increasingly evident. This trend will continue and strengthen as the younger generations enter the business world. Regardless of their profession, they will have some experience with how IT can help them do something better, faster, and smarter.
In my last column , I described the benefits of implementing a "business-technology liaison" program. Although the advantages of such a program are clear, the path to success requires a solid organizational structure, staffed with the right people.
Nemertes has discussed this type of program with more than 200 companies in the past few months. To be clear, those with business-technology liaison programs remain in the minority. But among those that do have such programs, we see some commonalities in those that are successful.
At the top of that structure, it's imperative that companies identify one individual--typically a senior vice president--who has the authority over and responsibility for the success of the business-technology liaison program. Positioning someone at this level also sends a clear message that the initiative is important to company leaders.
Within this person’s responsibility should be:
* The ability to hire and fire the liaisons;
*The responsibility for creating structure and process around the program, meaning there are regular meetings between liaisons and IT leaders so they understand the IT strategy;
* The oversight to make sure liaisons are fostering relationships with business units and having regular interactions with them.
* The accountability for liaison analysis, meaning they challenge liaisons with questions that demonstrate they understand how IT strategy affects business, and vice versa.
Typically, the SVP reports directly to the CIO and has dotted-line responsibility to both the CFO and the heads of specific business units. There is a big advantage to this structure: Everyone is aligned with the goal of integrating business and technology. By hiring someone at the SVP level, it also underscores the importance the company is placing on this initiative.
This structure (see Figure below) is an example of the "new thinking" required if IT is going to play a pivotal role in business transformation. Someone--in this case, the CIO--ultimately holds one person responsible for the success of business-IT alignment. At the same time, the CIO also has a role in ensuring success. Because all of the heads of IT also report into the CIO, he or she can make sure the technical side and the business-technology side are communicating and collaborating.
Figure 1: Top-Level Organizational Structure
Each business liaison is then aligned with a specific business unit, once the company determines how many business units to include. The liaisons also must communicate and collaborate with one another to uncover strategic transformational projects that span across multiple business units.
Of course, some companies can't afford new people to fill the business-technology liaisons positions, or they don't have enough people internally who they can reassign to fill the positions full time. In these cases, IT leaders must identify IT employees who posses solid communications skills, broad understanding of technology, and a decent knowledge of how the business operates. These people should be creative, and at least on a part-time basis, be able to take a non-IT problem and craft a solution involving technology.
Once organizations have determined which business units to focus on (Finance? Sales? HR? Retail operations? Field service?), the SVP of business-technology and the liaisons should work to identify the person or people with whom they will cultivate a relationship. There are two types of people with whom relationships must exist--permanent and project-based. It's wise for IT to cultivate a permanent relationship with the head of sales, for example, and perhaps a tech-savvy manager or employee who is well-respected by his or her peers. But if the project at hand is extending mobility to field service, IT should select appropriate field-service employees and mid-level managers who can provide input to make the project successful. Once the project is completed, IT says goodbye for now and devotes time to cultivating the project relationships to similar people relevant to the next project.
The IT person's counterpart on the business side should have a solid understanding of the business unit, but he or she does not need to be the business-unit leader. For example, talking to the head of sales gives one perspective, but talking to an actual salesperson provides a different perspective. And talking to a sales-support person provides yet another perspective. (It’s wise to develop a relationship with a budget holder, though, to get help funding new projects.)
Ideally, it's beneficial to get multiple perspectives because they usually identify different problems, and they may not even realize the issues their peers raise. For example, the head of sales may complain she cannot get good visibility into the causes for failed sales efforts, while a sales rep may say he cannot get solid enough inventory and customer-credit information while on site trying to close a deal. Meanwhile, the sales support person may not have the latest product information or access to the experts to secure an appointment or provide follow-up information. These are all different problems from different people—all of which IT can help resolve.
