InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
May 11, 1999
Your letters to my print column and this E-mail forum ask some serious questions about managing information technology in today's world. Since today's world is essentially absurd, my serious responses may sometimes sound a little whimsical, and my occasional whimsical ones, serious. In any case, if you want to participate, write to me at lovelace@home.com. I'll respond to those letters that I can. I reserve the right to edit for size and content. Just sign your E-mail the way you want it to appear online.
Dear Herb:I was encouraged to read your article, "Align Yourself Today" in InformationWeek. The shame is that so much of our profession will dismiss your observations out of hand.
I have been in the industry for 30 years, if you count my military programming experience. I have to admit, for the first 15 or so years, I was caught up in the jargon of the time. Then (and I'm not sure what the turning point was), I realized that a computer is not my personal toy. It is a business tool, and should be used as such. And as you say in the article, that means learning the language of the business. I believe I have been exceptionally successful in this regard.
What I find so frustrating is that the majority of the IT people today continue to make the same mistakes that were made 20 years ago. They still believe that we hold the Holy Grail, and if only the "dumb" business people would listen to us, instead of the other way around, we will lead them to the promised land. It didn't work in the past; it won't work now. They will continue to deliver technically crisp solutions that don't address the real needs.
I have a personal interest in all of this. After a long absence, I have decided it's time to return home to the South. I have a lot of years left before even contemplating retirement. It is apparent to me that when I stress my business emphasis in a work synopsis or resume, or in a phone interview, I don't get past the first cut. Most of the requirements state the need for a technical degree, and if you don't show that B.S. in computer or information science, the automated resumé scanners reject you out of hand. It has been a frustrating experience for me. Maybe you have some advice to offer.
Gary
Dear Gary:It is a pity that so many of our colleagues walk around with the attitude that business people need to listen to us, rather than recognizing that to be successful, we have to understand what is troubling them. Fortunately, I see strong indications that the message is getting through to the IT community. With that fact in mind, I can imagine your present frustration. It has to be very upsetting to miss out on opportunities because the people interviewing you don't value your business experience. It's particularly ironic in that their users probably would be delighted to talk to you--which brings me to some observations which hopefully will be of use to you.
First of all, if you want to avoid falling into the clutches of a computerized resumé review machine, concentrate on answering direct advertisements from potential employers rather than seeking out the search firms. In addition, do research on the companies in your locale that would benefit from your experience. Write letters and telephone them directly. Address your correspondence to those individuals who have business responsibility for the areas in which you have experience. You will be able to find out the names of those people who are the most likely to understand what you can do for them from annual reports, the Internet, and especially the receptionists who answer the phones. And, of course, pursue personal contacts. Ask your friends to talk to you about your job search and try to get three names from each of them to continue your campaign. Networking really works.
Good luck.
Dear Herb:I'm a salesman, and in the good old days before voice mail, I could often reach the CIO, senior VP, executive VP, etc. early in the morning or late in the afternoon, presumably before or after his secretary had arrived or left for the day, and he was answering his own phone. However, with today's proliferation of voice mail, it's very hard, if not impossible to reach even midlevel managers, let alone senior staff. I'd rather talk to the nastiest gatekeeper than a messaging system, because there is at least a 40/60 chance you can get put through.
I know the idea is to say something in the first 30 seconds that will pique the interest of the prospect, but on voice mail it's much harder to do than "live and in person". When you have a prospect on the line, you can control, at least to a certain extent, the conversation, ask leading questions, etc.--things next to impossible to do via voice mail.
What does it take for you to answer or return a cold call from a salesman?
Just sign me,
On hold in Itasca
Dear On Hold:All the so-called labor-saving devices we have today such as E-mail, voice mail, pagers, cellular phones, and portable computers have blurred the lines of work and play (see, "You Call This Progress?") to the point where very few people have enough time (or will take the time) to return cold calls. For example, I have instructed my assistant to try to direct callers to the appropriate individual in our organization who might be interested in what they have to offer. Surprisingly, instead of pursuing the new lead, many times the salesperson is not satisfied with that arrangement and continues to try to reach me.
So, my observation is that instead of worrying about the CIO or the senior VP who won't return the call, concentrate instead on finding out who in the potential customer's IT organization might be thrilled to hear about what you are selling. Make the telephone call, send a letter with product literature and, if need be, explain briefly over voice mail the value of what you represent. If the product is good, you'll have the opportunity for face-to-face meetings--and the appropriate executive will hear about you in short order.
Dear Herb:For some time, I've seen listings of the average salary for certain types of IT positions in different parts of the country. It seems to me that I've hardly ever fit into one category more than any other. I don't think that it is just me, either. Many of the people I work with are "cross-trained" to perform one major task (Notes or remote access control, for example) and then be ready to take over another item in case of vacation, absences, or what have you. This makes everyone in a small team (in my case, six people who are responsible for 400+ servers) essential to the operation.
It seems that the only way to find out how much you are really worth in the market is to enter it. Is there another way?
Thanks,
Ben
Dear Ben:Regardless of how fond we are of our present position, we all want to be paid what is fair for what we do. As a result, salary surveys have great allure to all of us when we pick up a magazine. What the salary surveys for the most part do not tell us is the range, statistically, for a given level of experience for our own specific situation (geographic location, size of company, exact training and years of experience), so it's almost impossible to really know what we can command in the way of compensation if we leave our employer.
The solution is straightforward. The only real way of determining your worth on the open market is to be part of that open market. If you're concerned that you are being underpaid to the point where you would consider leaving your present job, then you need to shop around and see if you can do substantially better.
[Editor's Note: You can also try using our IT Salary Advisor, a benchmarking application based on the results of our 1999 National IT Salary Survey. The application lets you benchmark your pay against the responses of the 22,000 survey participants, covering such criteria as job title, functional responsibilities, location, years of experience and gender.]
Dear Herb:I'm a 28-year-old network administrator at a midwestern manufacturing company and I'm working on my master's degree in computer science. I've had to come in only once or twice during a weekend in the entire year and a half that I've been with this company, and my work schedule is very flexible. In short, I work for an awesome company that truly cares about the happiness of its employees. However, this company is a small one and promotion opportunities are quite limited.
Now here's my question/concern: In most of the articles I read, in stories I hear from other MIS professionals, and in newspaper job ads, all I see and hear are words like overtime, on call, working weekends (i.e. 60-hour to 70-hour work weeks), etc. Are positions like these the only way to get into management?
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy. I work my tail off while in the office, but when 5:30 rolls around, the last thing I want to see is a computer or a technical manual. Believe me, I really enjoy what I do but I don't "love" it. My "love" is reserved for other things (family, friends, hobbies).
So where does someone in my position, with my level of experience go from here? I have supervisory experience at my present job but no experience with budgets, no seat on any steering committee. Just network administration.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Todd G.
Dear Todd:Your priorities are admirable and you obviously have the correct perspective on what is important in life and what is not. There are many people far older than you who have not achieved that level of enlightenment.
You now are thinking about your future. You see some strong indicators that upward mobility will require you to devote much more of your waking day to your career. You are wondering if the only way to get into management is through experience in jobs that infringe significantly on your free time.
Let me suggest to you that there is a more appropriate question for you to consider. What happens if you do figure out a way to score a management job in IT without having to go through the hassle of devoting more time to your profession? Let's just suppose that a management job actually will require on an ongoing basis the level of time commitment that you seem to want to avoid expending in your journey to get there. Would you still want to go after obtaining such a position?
Think carefully about the answer before deciding on your next career steps. Most of the managers that I know spend as least as much time on their jobs as their subordinates. Their work may not be as overt as going in on a weekend to fix a server. Instead, it's the day-in, day-out grind of working at home on office matters and continuously thinking about what to do next to solve the never-ending strategy and personnel problems, even when they are out with their families supposedly enjoying themselves. Is that what you are willing to do if the job requires it?
Herbert W. Lovelace is CIO at a multibillion-dollar international company. Herb practices his day job under an alias and has changed the names of colleagues to protect the guilty.
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