Information Technology Staffing

Leaders of many organizations fully understand that the IT department must contribute as a partner to offer value to the enterprise.  However, too many organizations still look at IT as nonstrategic service provider or as a cost center.

So how can any IT organization change this perception?

• Change your focus.  I would suggest that IT leaders need to change their culture and speak in terms of strategic growth rather than bare minimum maintenance.
• IT directors should not try and create vision in vacuum. Instead, solicit a select group of IT leaders that have vision and encourage them to brainstorm everything from IT infrastructure, to application development, to IT outsourcing services.
• This vision could be a detailed five year plan, along with a list of specific actions to engage others in meeting the groups’ targeted goals. To do this, break your chosen leaders into groups.  One group could be responsible for the ways to improves success and progress of maintenance projects.  Another could be to drive the effectiveness of the PMO, and still another could create metrics to gauge success by along with value demonstrations.  A fourth group could be tasked with eliminating the bottlenecks of process redesign.
• Build business-oriented IT managers.  Ensure that your senior managers have good business sensibility. Today, careers are not just about upward mobility, but about getting experiences across the enterprise.
  Having the entire team to contribute will give any organization a more comprehensive plan.  Furthermore, it will assist in building teamwork and focus for the individuals on the team in realizing that they are helping to change the culture while adding value to the entire organization.
• Perhaps one of the most obvious values of IT is to help drive cash to any organization's bottom line.  This can be done either directly or indirectly through IT optimization, IT automation, or business process automation. 

Each of these areas drives business value for the IT department.  If an organization is product focused IT capital investment can align itself directly to new product development.

Is your organization doing all it can to make sure IT is seen as vales rather than a cost center?