Overview

It is a race. Against time, against the changing business environment, against internal business changes, against solutions providers, against changing technologies, and against the impatience of people to get on with the job.

I don t have the total solution, and much of my thinking in this area is admittedly untested. So I offer these ideas as just that: ideas. If you like them, try them. Caveat emptor and all that, but suspend judgement for a moment as we reframe the provision of IT solutions.

I have deliberately not called this chapter IT Development . I also didn t call it Providing IT solutions . Because I want to break down the illusory barrier that somehow IT is responsible for developing systems or providing technology. It is of course, but if that s the whole gamut of your, or the business thinking, then it s time to change the rules. IT departments are responsible for helping the business solve their problems from an IT perspective. It remains a business problem, and IT provides the expertise, experience, methods and manpower to drive that perspective. But if the business throws their problem over the wall into the IT department, and then go to the exit hatch and wait for the solution to pop out the other end, we re in trouble. The focus must shift to business , and must also shift to solutions . Read the advertising brochures of any technology supplier, and they will emphasise that they provide complete solutions. This is a tad arrogant,...