I have had the privilege of working with many clients across several industries over the years. One of the trends I have seen is the emergence of Shadow IT departments. So what exactly is a Shadow IT department?
Shadow IT departments emerge when business users utilize
Realistically, the cat is out of the bag. We are not going back to the days when 100 percent of applications were on premise and the system administrator was always an IT person. By the same token, it is impossible to transform your organizations systems, especially its finance systems, without a partnership with Corporate IT. Let's take a step back for a minute and see how we got here.
In many organizations, the relationship between the business and IT is adversarial at best. IT views users as ignorant boobs who would burn the house down if allowed. The business views IT as being the obstacle to achieving its goal. IT never wants to partner with the business and puts up roadblocks to progress by requiring endless documentation to make the slightest change. In turn, IT requires endless documentation because they have been burned in the past when they tried to move quickly to implement an idea from the business that wasn't completely thought through and then was blamed for it when it did not work. Does this sound familiar? I have encountered this dynamic between IT and the business in almost every organization in which I have ever worked.
The problem: the people who are most familiar with the technology are not as familiar with the functions and challenges of the business. So how do we move past this? First, you must acknowledge the true state of relations between Corporate IT and the business. There has to be a clearing of the air and recognition that things were not handled as they should have been in the past. You cannot clear the air with a wimpy statement such as " we acknowledge we may have done some things which contributed to the problem we now found ourselves in". It must be something like," we acknowledge that we have contributed to our current situation".
Then, representatives from IT and the business must get together and agree on the rules they will abide by going forward. Each side must resist treating the other side like infant who cannot possibly understand what the other does. If something is asked for by one side that the other objects to, it is the responsibility of both sides to try to understand the arguments that are being put forth. If both sides cannot decide, then someone such as the CEO or an executive with sufficient authority over both IT and the business must make the call.
Many times the business struggles to do mundane and tedious tasks because they are unaware of technology that can help make the process more efficient. Effective use of technology is essential to creating an efficient company. In order to be seen as a true partner, IT must adopt a service culture. With the exception of technology companies, IT is not the business that the organization is in. IT exists to support the functions of the business. IT's role is critical to the success of the company and should not be treated as an afterthought.
Companies who can master the relationship between their Corporate IT department and the business will be the organizations who are best equipped to quickly adapt and to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Shadow IT departments, no matter how enticing, are ultimately band aids. You can't fix the problem by avoiding it. It's time to repair the relationship between IT and the business.