A New Branch on the TechExecs Tree
I recently became the new National Programs Chair at TechExecs. I’m excited about this new role because I believe that this provides another means of helping the IT community build closer bonds with their customers. I often have written about the benefits of business-IT alignment. Mostly it’s been about improving business processes and then making sure the client’s IT hardware and systems are supportive of those processes. This time it’s different.
In this new role we can expand that focus to include more support of the human resources of the IT world. Over the years, I have observed a very persistent disconnect between the technical community and their customers. The core problem is that there is minimal shared vocabulary and sensitivity to the other side’s issues. We will be providing seminars and workshops on topics like:
- Relationship building
- Consensus building
- Internal customer relationship management
- Internal sales techniques
Understanding your internal customer’s business issues
- Business skills development for IT professionals
- Understanding your customer’s business processes
- Other similar topics of interest to our members …
These are some of the types of topics we will cover but these are not necessarily the titles we’ll use. The overall goal is to help our membership grow the skills that will help them be better at their current jobs as well as make them more competitive in the marketplace. Obviously, we have our own ideas but we need to hear from our customers. We need to hear your ideas and needs. We’d like to hear your opinions on this topic as well. We want to make this new offering as valuable as we can for our membership. Please either comment on this post or send me an email at mnpattison@gmail.com.
This is a short post but it won’t be the last on the topic. Don’t forget to send me your ideas on this post as soon as you can. Thanks for stopping by…
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I find it slightly confusing whether you are addressing CIO/IT Managers who want to learn how to better support their own organization, or whether you are offering to help IT consultants do a better job for their external customers. Albeit, many of the issues are the same.
The primary audiences for this post are CEOs, COOs, CIOs and senior IT leadership. These are the types of people who have voiced the greatest concerns. Consultants certainly can have similar issues. However, if they have a problem the feedback from their clients will be swift and clear. Internal IT staffs may not hear the message from their internal customers quite as clearly.
We would certainly like to hear from consultants as well. We also hope that what we offer will be of use to them as well.
Kendall,
Please see the comment below. Sorry I forgot to leave it as a reply to your comment.
Mike Pattison
I received a BBA in MIS (Management Information Systems) from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. This is the kind of program that prepares IT people to be and work with business people. I have the interpersonal skills you’re talking about. If I can be of assistance let me know.
This is a VERY worthwhile project. I would also add a workshop on basic project management as well. Even with the trend to using PMPs (Project Management Professionals) these days having a good understanding of how project management works is a critical skill. Business writing skills is another area that’s worthwhile but may not be a good candidate for the seminar format.
One small change in emphasis I would suggest is rather than simply treating the non-IT part of companies as customers look at them as business partners. That forces you to align your department’s priorities with the success of the larger business. It also makes budgeting a less painful process as you are able to show your department isn’t simply a cost center that can be squeezed without consequence. So instead of internal sales, I would look at successful collaboration techniques.
Danny,
Thanks for your comments. Project management and communications skills (both writing and verbal) are part of the plan.
Mike Pattison
A big problem I ran into when working in the industry industry was silo development in companies. Different departments and/or personnel felt IT was not responsive enough or just not able to meet their needs so they tried doing it themselves; this included creating databases, separately purchasing software, hiring specialized personnel, purchasing equipment, and creating separate internal networks of servers. All of these are things an IT department can and should handle more efficiently than an individual department.
Your workshop should include something on how to best communicate to the company how their IT department is both willing and able to provide myriad services, not just setting up phones and computers.
The IT department is the new hub of communication and efficiency for every company; it is both a macro and micro strategic machine.
That’s energy industry in my previous post.
Unfortunately silo thinking is pretty common in most industries. The practices of using charge backs and “internal customer” thinking creates the situation where the IT department begins to think, and act, as if it were an independent entity. The rest of the company then sees the IT department as just another cost center with poor customer service. Guess what happens next? Outsourcing. If you don’t provide unique value to the business, you’re a commodity and it becomes a situation of lowest bidder. The cycle almost runs itself once started.
I think the single most important thing I did as an IT manager was to send my people into the field with the sales and service teams on a semi-regular basis. It gave everyone on the team a ground level view of how the actual business worked and at the same time created relationships within the company that was invaluable later when we when through a change of ERP systems.
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