Is IT out of touch?

Below is an excerpt from Ben Worthen's Wall St. Journal blog. He is writing about recent articles that have appeared on people working around their central IT departmental rules and procedures. The IT folks have argued that average users should be more controlled partly for security reasons, but also for cost control issues and overall management issues.

I wonder - are we guilty of what Ben discusses here? Do we frontload the process so that it is difficult to use or simply not practical to use? Is it reasonable that we not allow specific devices, or insist on only one OS? Do we create nuisance charges rather than look for ways to encourage better behavior?

From Ben's blog:
Information-technology departments are forcing their companies’ employees to use unsupported tech tools by insisting on policies that are outdated in the modern workplace.

Yesterday, the Journal described the other side of the coin in an article called “Helping the IT Department Help You.” Here’s an example, a tip on how to get your company to buy you new technology:

“Build a business case first. That involves writing a short letter explaining what you will be able to accomplish with the technology that you currently can’t do, and how that will benefit the company. Be as specific and quantitative as you can, to show how the purchase can help make money and keep costs low. Typically, these requests should be routed through your own manager rather than directly through the IT department. Find out what the protocol is at your organization.”

Processes like these are the reason that people end up buying their own technology. Here’s a newsflash: People aren’t real good at predicting what they’ll need to do months or even weeks or days from now. When employees ask for technology that will help them do something – say, share a file with a colleague or check email from a remote location – it isn’t because they need to do it six weeks from now. It’s because they have an immediate need. Writing a business case, and routing it through your manager and then IT just takes too long – especially when the employee himself can solve the problem by spending five minutes on the Internet.

The process is what’s pushing people to find their own technology. The Business Technology Blog is sick of people who point fingers – either at rogue users or insensitive IT departments – without ever taking a look at the root cause, which in this case is a policy that no longer reflects reality.