Why IT Is an Organisation’s Best Friend
The IT department is one of, if not THE most important department within any organisation. IT is the glue that holds an organisation together and ultimately helps them achieve their goals (no jokes about me being sticky please). Without IT there would be no organisation in the first place as no one would be able to do anything!
It’s not just an expense
The IT department is often seen as an expense with no real value. Lets be honest, the IT department doesn’t directly make an organisation any money so it’s often seen as a nuisance that just swallows money with nothing coming out the other end. This is true in some respect but completely false in others. Without a strong IT department there wouldn’t be an organisation to run in the first place.
The IT department can be compared to a football coach (primarily because I wish I was a footballer). A football coach supports the manager with decision-making and tactics, which ultimately helps win games. The coach never gets the glory, the manager does. That manager wouldn’t be in a position to get glory without the help of the coach.
New technology
Technology is constantly improving and moving up to the next level. All organisations want to be seen to be keeping up with new technologies, but this means that the IT department needs to learn and understand how to support a shiny new bit of hardware or software. The IT department has to grow and keep up with the changes, which in essence results in a completely different look and feel to the IT department from year to year.
An IT Manager from 5 years ago would barely recognise the IT Department today (I know I don’t) such are the advancements in technology, and someone in IT today can’t accurately predict what technological advancements will happen in the future (although we can try). The majority of end-users want the most updated device, machine or software as it may result in compatibility issues or users not being able to complete their job to their full potential.
When things go wrong
The IT department are always there whenever technology goes wrong (in case you were wondering, I personally like to sing “I’ll be there” by The Jackson 5 whilst I sit at my desk). The majority of IT departments only have up to ten members of staff that are required to have a broad knowledge base of all of the hardware, software and the other technologies that are present within the organisation. I mean, hey, we’re the ‘go-to guys’ whenever the end user has a problem. When you think about it, the IT department is a bit like ‘one size fits all’ in respect that we have to fix and maintain a number of systems:
• Hardware (different manufactures, hardware spec, models)
• Software (thousands of different vendors and applications)
• Phones (variety of handsets, all with different user interfaces and features)
• Tablets (different operating systems, different user interfaces, different features)
• Servers (number of processors, datacentres, virtual machines etc)
When things go right
It doesn’t matter what organisation you are in or what market you’re in; when things are going well it proves that the IT department is doing a good job. Remember, for other areas of the organisation to be doing well IT need to be doing a top job to support the successes of the other departments. Every single end-user is a customer of IT. There’s no getting away from the fact that they rely on IT to do their jobs. So if they can do their jobs successfully then huge amounts of credit needs to go to IT for providing the technical equipment and support to help achieve positive results.
The IT department holds huge value to organisations and is a necessity so shouldn’t be viewed as a hindrance. Ultimately the IT Department should be everyone’s best friend (I’m everyone’s favourite in the office) as everyone relies on IT to complete their individual jobs. With the constant emergence of new technologies the IT department will continue to be an integral part of an organisation. It will continue to be the silent partner to an organisation’s overall success!
