IT Consulting from the Trenches

WHAT REALLY IS THE PROPER ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?

This is my final entry. I’ve moved on to the next phase of my life. My days of managing IT infrastructure projects and implementing applications are over.

I wanted to share the gist of my experience in this post. Of the different aspects of IT consulting, I choose to discuss the proper role that Information Technology must play in an organization. In any organization.

Technology is merely a tool. It is managed by a part of the organization. And like any other part of the organization, IT’s mission is to support the organization’s mission.

How does it do this? By doing what it does best. And that, namely, is by improving the flow of information within the organization.

How does that help the organization? It helps because it enables people to make better decisions (or at least better-informed decisions) since they are able to access the right information at the right time.

Why is this particularly important? Today’s environment operates more rapidly than yesterday’s. Today’s environment also changes more rapidly than yesterday’s. Technology in the form of advances in communication and transportation is responsible for this. These factors, namely, faster (implementation) cycles and faster evolution (of the market), increase the need for faster decisions. And smart decision-makers who already face the pressure of making fast decisions will not handicap themselves with poor information. This is why IT is more important than ever.