IT More Important
IT is becoming more important to companies.
Pundits say that IT will be at the very centre of virtually everything that companies do in the future and IT workers will become even more important.
According to P J Do Gianmarino, who is he CEO of think tank JWG-IT, at a recent Ovum Banking Technology Conference ‘There is little activity at a bank that does not depend on IT.
‘IT has to be at the table during impact assessment.
‘Change requests come into IT late because they don’t involve them early on’.
‘They don’t think of IT and data in the first instances but more of a consequence’.
Across the Board
He was specifically speaking about the new Compliance measures. However, it is likely to apply across the board and not just at banks in the future.
I remember when I worked at Barclays the managers used to say that ‘We are our IT systems’.
What was true then is even more so now.
IT Departments
IT Departments used to rank lowly in the hierarchy of a company, mainly because it was new.
The IT Director ranked lower than the Directors of Finance, Marketing, Sales and Operations – indeed below everyone else.
Indeed often IT heads weren‘t even Directors.
Sometimes they were just managers.
Many of them reported in to the Finance Director and this still happens in some places as they were seen as a cost.
IT Director or CIO
However, the IT Director, or CIO, as they are often called now, as the role expands, is becoming more and more influential at companies. That’s especially at those where IT is foremost.
After all if you ‘are your IT systems’ then why would you have your IT Director ranking as the lowest ranking person on the board or not even on it?
That was the case when Barclays used to say that.
However, that is all changing as the role of IT becomes more and more important.
IT Capability
It used to be that IT departments were informed at a late stage of changes that need to be made after decisions were made.
Now, it is becoming more and more obvious that the head of IT needs to be involved at the decision making stage. That’s because he or she knows the capability of IT best in the company.
The earlier they are involved the better the decision as to how IT is to be used is made.
Many Happy Returns on Investment
A survey a while back of the top 500 companies in America showed that the best return on investment that those companies got was on IT spending.
For every $1 spent on IT they got a Return On Investment of $4.
That‘s an astonishing return. It shows that whatever rates their contractors are getting the company is making even more from them.
IT Return on Investment
So, when it is the best way companies can spend money it would make sense to have the CIO or IT Director right in the forefront of decisions taken on how money should be spent on IT and how IT can best enable the business both for cost cutting and for growing the business.
Enlightened companies have already twigged this and more and more companies will do so in the future p or fall behind those companies that already have twigged this.
This is the Information Age and the biggest differentiating factor between companies in the future will be who uses their IT best and is able to extract the best management information – and we are the enablers of this.
It is becoming more and more important to the business.
The future is bright.
The future is IT!
If you know anyone else who would find this article useful, please share it with them using the social media buttons at the top and bottom of the page.
Ad – Contractor Services
If you do need an umbrella company you could try one of the following:-
Public Sector Umbrella Company
Or would you prefer to get expert advice about which umbrella company is right for your specific needs? If so fill in the form below and they will be in touch.
For Mortgages specially designed for contractors try Specialist Contractor Mortgages.
