Are technology-savvy, empowered and informed business managers potentially dangerous to your business? It might sound counterintuitive, but more informed business consumers with the power to purchase technology solutions may wreak havoc on more than just the IT budget – they can place your entire business in jeopardy.
Some industry analysts predict that this is the era of IT decentralization, particularly as the consumerization of technology has created an era of empowered IT business users. Cloud technology, social media, and the sheer volume and velocity of information are creating control challenges for the IT organization because more educated business consumers no longer need to rely on the IT organization to contextualize technology solutions. As a result, more IT expenditures are managed outside the IT budget.
While CIOs make a strong argument to have a centralized structure, business unit managers often attempt to derail centralized IT by conducting their own research and purchasing technology solutions without any input from corporate IT teams. Without centralized control and rigor around IT financial and business management, organizations can overspend or under-invest and not have complete and accurate data around technology investments. Unless the central IT organization can change its relationship with the enterprise and communicate the value of technology to the business, centralized control may be more than a relic of the past, but a recipe for disaster.
To run IT like the rest of the business, minimize chaos and save business consumers from disaster, IT must take steps now to prevent disaster from occurring in the first place. It requires a more disciplined approach to IT financial and business management and understanding the needs of the business technology consumer; then providing them with proactive ways to be more engaged in saving opportunities, resource allocation and even consolidation efforts.
Increasing IT financial transparency and making IT financial and business management a mission-critical component of the IT business strategy helps the entire organization understand where they need to invest and be able to align costs with consumption. Whether providing technology to external customers or automating internal business processes, today more than ever, technology is a prominent part of success in nearly every business in every industry.
Helping the organization gain a better handle on the value of IT products and services provided to the business and a greater sense of urgency toward IT financial and business management is essential. A focused IT financial and business management solution organizes critical data that gives organizations the power to drill into the cost of IT to a level that has actionable consequences, increases financial transparency to both the producers and consumers of IT services and ensures the organization has complete information into total cost of ownership to drive more productive conversations and better decisions.
If IT leaders are going to redefine the relationship with the enterprise and engage their business colleagues more, they need facts and actionable data to drive informed decisions. A fully automated IT financial and business management solution provides insight into true total costs and technology utilization, allowing organizations to communicate the value of IT. As a result, IT can centralize control, effectively monitor costs, measure cost savings, uncover additional savings opportunities and gain efficiencies in accounting and planning. After all, aren’t these the core functions of any well run business?