Often in the early stages of a business the founders take most of the key decisions on Sales, Product or Service Development, Finance, HR, Purchasing etc. and underpinning a lot of these are related IT decisions.
The decision making processes around implementing IT can often be reasonably simple for a small business: there are very few people to consult or involve and what is required can often be achieved by using a ‘shrink wrapped’ off the shelf software product, the IT infrastructure to can be found as commodity items and if necessary there are plenty of good local IT companies to help install and support the hardware and networks.
As time moves on the company grows and there comes a point where there is sufficient IT infrastructure to be installed and supported where a decision is taken to employ an IT technician. This can then grow into a department which depending on the need may also include programmers, software application support personnel and business process experts. Suddenly there is an ‘IT business’ in place, but wait a moment…….what business is the company in?.
The world of IT is fast paced and while initially it may seem like a cost effective option to employ staff on the core technologies in use in the business, what happens when the next business step change is needed and those technologies and internal IT skills are no longer appropriate?. Perhaps worse still, what if the technical staff become key influencers in the strategic choices of future business IT solutions and (surely not) choose options that do not necessarily provide the most optimal or most cost effective solution for the business?. Is it possible (heaven forbid) that instead they might use their influence to choose solutions based on a technologies in which they had an interest, perhaps those that had gathered the latest hype or even those that are now demanding a premium in the job market. What are the chances that, if it does exist, that a fully outsourced or Cloud based solution, would be chosen. The phrase “Turkeys voting for Christmas”, springs to mind.
Then there is also the issue of ‘strength and depth’. The nature of any small department or business is that there are fewer personnel and they are forced to be more generalist so in smaller IT departments a lack of skills depth and coverage often leads to business risk, which often can go unnoticed. How many Directors are fully confident that the key operational systems on which their business relies are fully covered by the skills and knowledge necessary to quickly recover if something goes wrong or to ensure continued service if a key member of staff leaves suddenly?
Of course there are also many advantages to a company having its own staff. Availability, flexibility and responsiveness are plus points frequently mentioned and these of course are important qualities in an IT services organisation. However, in many SMEs this is all achieved at a price, and that price is often reduced control, risk and deviation from business priorities. How often is it a case of ‘who shouts loudest’ or ‘who is friends with who’ that dictates the allocation of IT resource?. How often in being responsive does an IT technician makes a change to a system or infrastructure whilst not having a 360 degree view of the risks associated with it and agreement on the change and its timing from key business users?. How much of the IT service and support activity is properly recorded and measured, feeding appropriate Key Performance Indicators to the Board thus enabling them to have an informed view on the performance and cost effectiveness of the IT solutions and services being provided?.
The issues of course can all be addressed: helping set the direction, guiding the selection of the right business solutions and technologies, getting the right levels and mix of IT staff and skills (internal and external), operating the appropriate level of process formalisation in IT Delivery and Support and providing visibility to the Board.
Putting all this in place and handing the IT aspirations and needs of a complex range of stakeholders, prioritising according to the Business Strategy is the job of an IT Director. This is someone with Board level experience and business acumen, strong communication skills and a deep practical experience of the IT Domain together with the challenges of its organisational structures, skills, processes, product and service procurement and financial management. The problem for many mid-sized organisations is that such skills do not some cheap and, while there may be significant initial work to get the IT house in order, once it is in order there may only be a part time monitoring and steering role to keep it so.
This is where the services of an IT Director Service such as that offered by ITSS can be invaluable. Not only can the level of input meet the need and budget but the fact that the service is external and completely independent makes for completely disinterested advice. The involvement with ITSS across many organisations and sectors enables us to provide additional insight and superior procurement capabilities and our strength in depth (ITSS partners have been at Director level both in organisation buying and using IT as well as IT Solution and Services providers) all makes for an exceptionally strong service offering.
