Many companies, even with the most experienced IT staff, miss the true mission of IT.

I have been an IT professional for 16 years. I have seen many approaches to the use and implementation of technology. It is true that technology makes life easier for us in many ways. I remember the days when I would go to the grocery store and a nimble-fingered clerk would key in the prices of items into a register, then toss the item into the bagger. We now have a touch screen self-checkout that allows one clerk to monitor 4 or more stations. We have phones that are more than phones with thousands of apps and capabilities to help us in our daily lives and entertain us. However, the technology, when you zoom out a bit, seems busy and noisy at times.

The “busy” I’m referring to is when technology is used simply because it’s new, different, faster, or better. The “noise” is all the latest marketing terms and cool gizmos with big promises and short deliveries. We all know this is bad, and many IT departments fall into this trap because they have forgotten, or never learned, the true mission of IT.

What is better? What is new or innovative? does it matter? These are questions I watch executives wrestle with as they review monthly, quarterly, and past performance revenue metrics. The true mission of IT is simple but often unused because of all the noise.

Another note about me is that I’m a bit of a black and white or right and wrong kind of person. While there are exceptions and we refer to this as the gray area, my gray area is somewhat thin. This is also why I don’t believe in the promise of miracle solutions. I hear executives and managers make claims or suggestions that “if they just bought product XYZ” or “if we merged with ABC company” all problems would be solved. I have seen this affect businesses dramatically. Against all logic and reason, a well-known financial services company bought a competitor for $50 million. The ROI of that purchase translated into thousands of years! Today that purchased technology only supports about 200 customers and zero profit. It all started because an executive said that this is what the company should do. That’s the sign of someone looking for the “Silver Bullet.” Sorry, I just don’t believe it, never have. When people in positions of influence and authority make such statements, they are often echoed and supported by the yes crowd, like the mockingjay in the currently popular Hunger Games trilogy. Good strategy, a clear vision and direction, discipline, and hard work solve problems and move an organization forward. I know, it’s not fancy, but it’s always cash, which translates to profit.

I simply focus the IT mission into 4 categories. Before explaining this, let’s look at the business of businesses. Regardless of their industry, companies really only do 3 activities. Business activities can be divided into 3 categories. I know what you’re thinking now, he said 4 categories earlier, but the fourth, as I’ll explain later, adds to the first three, so to speak. The business of businesses simply breaks down to these 3 things. Entry, production and exit. Again, I know you wanted something classy and eye-catching. Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just dealing with reality.

Well, I’m sure at least a dozen other activities went through your mind when I gave you that short list, but if you think about it, all of those activities fit into one of these aforementioned categories and are component activities and tasks.

Input: Whether its input is in the form of natural resources or digital information, the company takes “stuff.” Whereas in semiconductor manufacturing, what we included was customer data or CAD-like drawings of microprocessors. We also receive inputs in the form of chemicals, quartz, films, and a variety of other materials, all used in the next business activity: production. If you think about it, what type of input is your raw material for your business? Paint? Steel? Customer specifications? contacts? Personal references? Industry data? All of these things are inputs or the “stuff” that goes into our production operation.

Production: The things we do with our resources. All input material is now manipulated, modified, managed, and custom modified to produce what your business does. The way you manipulate your input and resources is usually defined as your basic skills. This is why so many companies take the time to define and sometimes redefine what their core competencies really are and I applaud companies that take the time to write and verbalize this in a complete and clear list. These activities need to be looked at by both business leaders and IT leaders to understand where technology can be used most effectively.

Production: These are the things we do to deliver and sell to the end customer. This is often left undone, but it’s critical for all businesses and certainly critical for IT to investigate how the checkout process can be clean, clear and consistent. One of my favorite examples is a Japanese semiconductor company that delivered their final product meticulously hand-wrapped as a gift. While we (in the US) thought this was a bit of a stretch, this particular company was #1 for a reason. Of course, I’m not suggesting gift wrap product delivery and it really has nothing to do with technology, but it’s an example of how that company looked at customer expectations and met or exceeded them. A lot of thought, analysis and a solid process went into that decision to gift wrap the product. As IT professionals, we must be willing to look at all possibilities related to customer delivery or production and know when more or less technology will make a difference. I’m not a big user of social media; however, I know that providing updates to customers through those channels is critical in today’s marketplace. Unfortunately, companies that don’t understand this and operate on the old 3-5 day reporting cycle instead of 3-5 milliseconds will be left behind.

Well, as promised, the four category. Years ago I would have said my fourth category was “metrics” or even “data warehouse”, but these are components of what the industry calls SSOT or “Single Source of Truth”. Ensuring, in a manufacturing situation, that “Widget A1” is always called “Widget A1” and that the recipe to create this widget is correctly coded and consistently referenced. Take a look at your own company’s “phone list.” I still see companies with multiple entry points, email systems, authentication systems, HR systems, spreadsheets, and other documents that contain a list of personnel and related attributes such as business addresses and phone numbers. How many of those systems are entered manually? How many different ways is an address placed in “the system”? Is the state abbreviated or typed, all upper case or mixed case? Get the image? If a company can’t even give an accurate accounting of all staff and contact information, they probably don’t have an SSOT role or mindset. I’ve even seen a business’s retail locations have up to 5 different names or reference IDs. Imagine how frustrating this is for new people trying to acclimate or compare financial reports. A single source of truth brings everyone on the same page, and from there, reports and metrics can be aligned to the business function and customer needs.

Take a look at your own company and relationships with your business leaders, and ask them and yourself if your IT organization is working to improve these major categories of business functions. Another tactic I use is to talk to and interview as many people in the company as I can. I always say that 99% of my best ideas come from other people and it’s true. Hear what end users and customers are saying about business processes, applications, and functionality. They often have great insight and can open your eyes to a key piece of information to help you in your discussions with leaders and design solutions. Again, what is IT’s true mission if not to bring technology to the table that can enhance and improve the top 3 activities of the business?

Once I understood this simple point of view, creating solutions became much simpler and more effective. Hopefully, you can now answer the question of what your IT organization’s mission really is and seek alignment with your business counterparts for the betterment of your business or organization.