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Let's Move On

Consider that accounting and finance may leave most of us yawning, but they're critical to business success and growth, and no company can survive without those functions. Ditto IT. I've read the comparisons to the manufacturing age and the evolution from private power plants to external suppliers and how IT is undeniably headed down this path. It all makes sense--to a point.

No matter how ubiquitous IT becomes, no matter how outsourced or back office some of its functions appear, aka the various writings of Nicholas Carr--IT is going to remain one of the strongest assets any company can have. Our lives are only going to become more automated and more mobile--from our personal needs to our home to the tools we use at the office and on through leisure activities. The sphere envisioned, created, supported, and maintained by some form of IT is only going to increase. For example, in the auto industry, IT--whether outsourced at GM or as an internal service at Ford--isn't just a corporate function, it's part of every product that goes out the door, it's part of what differentiates products today. That's about as integrated as you can get to the business core. On the other hand, while automobiles can't run without some form of fuel, there's no competitive edge to whatever brand of fuel is used. Gas is pretty much gas.

So back to whether CIOs belong on the board of directors. Well, why not? Of course, they have to gain a seat in the executive suite first, but that's no longer a rarity. And to make this happen, IT has to hold up its end by being business-focused, which brings me back to another topic that just won't die: the need for CIOs (and other IT personnel) to be business savvy in general and to understand the needs and goals of the organization they serve in particular. Well, no kidding. You cannot solve problems you don't understand, and there is no point to any project which doesn't serve the greater business goals.

I think we've spent the last decade talking about that truism. Anyone who doesn't get it at this point in the evolution of our industry should not be working in IT, and probably isn't. And given the rate at which outsourcing has become such a critical part of many IT portfolios, and the kinds of jobs that hence go outside, it's a no-brainer that having business skills--among them project management and the ability to communicate--is critical.

What follows are some other issues that just seem well past their freshness date to me: