A recent article was written titled, Does the Business (Still) Hate IT? I say, No. The business loves technology and the business loves information, so it really adores Information Technology. But it/IT doesn’t like feeling controlled. The capitals are intentional.
Neither group is comfortable with feeling controlled or out of control. Using a new acronym BT (Business Technology) may help describe alignment in yet another form, but I believe that the root of this issue is relationships of trust between people.
An example of the business not wanting to be controlled is when a sale is happening and IT has programmed a business rule in the system that an agent wants/needs to “break.” The agent will jump through numerous hoops to “fix” the problem and make the sale. The agent will then gripe about “IT.” IT on the other hand will complain that technology just “isn’t able to do that.” IT may also choose to say that the agent was hurting the business. Gasp!
I would despair of the groups every getting along, however I have seen that they can successfully work together and be happy. Like any other relationship, success is found in specific and frequent communication. By specific, I mean that success is found in addressing specific issues, one at a time and finding a solution together. When this is done on a frequent basis, then the trust relationship develops. And with trust, comes a successful business.
