{"id":58287,"date":"2022-01-20T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?p=58287"},"modified":"2022-03-14T17:43:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T21:43:52","slug":"rebuttal-its-time-to-get-rid-of-the-it-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/rebuttal-its-time-to-get-rid-of-the-it-department","title":{"rendered":"Rebuttal: It\u2019s Not Time to Get Rid of the IT Department"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 11\/27\/21, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Joe Peppard, a principal research scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management. The article is called \u201cIt\u2019s Time to Get Rid of the IT Department<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tl;dr version of his op-ed is that IT Departments should go away and each department in an organization should have a single IT admin to take care of their technology needs. This is my rebuttal to this frustrating MBA theory-over-reality methodology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT Departments aren’t optional for organizations, and a hodge podge of policy choices on a departmental level is a recipe for disaster that comes from lack of consistency, forethought, and centering of user experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019s Role Within Business Over the Past 25 Years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have been fortunate enough to have run a successful IT Consultancy\/MSP for more than a couple of decades. I have seen many changes over that time and astounding growth in the field. Until the past 10 years or so, the IT department typically fell under the control of Finance. The Finance Director (or VP of Finance or Controller or some other finance title) was the decision maker for all things IT. And because of their role in the company, decisions were made on the basis of expense to the company rather than what was technologically best for the company. More often than not, more expensive solutions (even if they offered many more benefits to the company) were set aside in favor of lean solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the past 10 years or so, a shift in corporate thinking raised IT management to the same level as other officers. So now, seeing an organization with a CIO\/CISO alongside the CFO, COO, and CEO isn\u2019t unusual. And the CISO\u2019s responsibility is over the IT Department as well as Security and, possibly, Facilities. Decisions get made because they are in the best interest of the security and betterment of the company, not just because a solution is the cheapest. Finally – we can move forward with cohesive direction and team impetus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Peppard claims that IT Departments should be dissolved and each individual department should have an IT person. The basis of his claim is found here: \u201cGo to most IT departments and ask how they are measured, and it\u2019s almost always inputs\u2014money they have spent, systems that don\u2019t break down, or projects that come in on time and on budget. But there\u2019s almost nothing about the contributions that technology is making to business outcomes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, he doesn\u2019t see their value. I wonder if he sees the value of preventative medicine or auto insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CapEx, OpEx, or ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is some small nugget of truth in his statements, but only in that IT has, historically, been seen as an expense line. That\u2019s why it always fell under Finance in the org charts \u2013 because it doesn\u2019t – directly – make sales. But neither does the Finance Department. Nor HR. With his thinking, why not get rid of every department except sales? It was a long-standing frustration for me as a consultant when IT would fall under Finance. The bean counters (as we so affectionately called them) were always concerned with NOT spending money when, sometimes, the way to profit is with strategic spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Peppard\u2019s statement about a lack of business outcomes can be overcome by simply changing the method by which IT is measured. In other words, teach the IT Department managers how to create a positive, business outcome-based statement. For example, they could create a measurement showing how many DDOS attacks were thwarted by the new firewalls installed, how many hours of productive work happened, how much data was saved, and\/or how many sales were completed because IT put the right equipment in place. It\u2019s not hard to measure the benefits. The managers just need to look at their data from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, IT consultants are put in this position all the time. In order for us to make a sale, we have to convince the client that we are a BENEFIT to the business\u2019s bottom line, rather than simply an expense. I learned early on that I was going to have to show clients an ROI on their IT spending. As an example, I showed one design agency how purchasing 10 new, top of the line, MacPro design workstations had an ROI of under a year, ultimately saving them enough time (and time=money) to either:<\/p>\n\n\n\n