The Director's Cut: Eight secrets of marrying IT and business

What goes around comes around. Just when we were on the point of convincing our chief executives that we are an investment worth investing in, along came a recession and once again our top three priorities are about justification – that we understand business, that we add value to the bottom line, that we deserve to exist.

How can we do these? And how do we do these fast?

When faced with this position, tinkering will do nothing. One has to go deeper. Complaining won’t do us much good, either. We must act.

So no time for positive, powerful and proactive action. Time to stand up and be counted, to announce that your entire department will, from this moment on, be measured against the return on investment (ROI) it will bring for the company.

The IT priority on CEOs lips will remain financial for some time. Recession, project delivery, staff costs, budget expenditure - all combine to support the view that IT is there to take and not to add. It feels like a drain on natural resources. And our experiences with the Y2K and dot-coms have not appeased our bosses.

This has to change, by the IT leaders deciding to measure the real ways they and their departments are adding value to the business, at every level. That they must be, fundamentally, business people.

The IT director who is serious about delivering a quantifiable and measurable ROI must do many things differently:

- Be absolutely clear where you are going and unite your team behind that clear, concise and compelling future – and do this fast. And if your company does not know where it is going, rejoice, you can take the lead.
- Create outstanding measurement/reporting/communicating infrastructures – in other words, find out the key things people need to know and deliver them fast.
- Provide a clear contract (service charter) on what you will deliver, and when – forget service level agreements.
- Put in information systems that track the use of desktops/PCs – and quantify the value they bring by keeping track of PC applications.
- Market the IT department through powerful interpersonal relationships, at all levels - make sure people catch you doing things right (perception is all).
- Quantify the real costs, benefits and ownership for all projects (every project is a business project, there is no such thing as an 'IT project').
- Relate everything you do, and plan to do, directly with the company’s bottom line - this includes ensuring your IT people use business speak and not technology jargon, all day, every day. Ban mystery and the strange language that is a disease to our future.
- …And make your CEO your best friend (liking him or not is irrelevant!) – phone him/her now to invite them to dinner at your house.

Focus on these eight areas and lead the transformation.

All IT services come down to a fine balance, between what a company wants and what it can achieve. Achieve this, and you will focus on business first, and be at the heart of your organisation.