Mr. "IT Doesn't Matter" has a new book called The Big Switch. In
this one, he predicts data centers will go the way of onsite electrical generation.
Back in the day, every business had to generate their own electricity, but the
rise of centralized power plants persuaded companies to trust outside power.
Carr says onsite data centers will move outside as well, into the "cloud"
of future Google and others. IT folks will be folded into business units. I
suppose data center floor space will be converted to day care centers.
I give Carr a grade of 50 on these two ideas. Data centers won't disappear
for compliance, paranoia, and ego reasons. But moving the IT people out to business
units hits a raw nerve that needs soothing. The natives are getting restless.
Why do some employees hate IT people? Because those IT people believe IT is
important. IT isn't important, what IT supports is important.
Much like big companies have lawyers and accountants in each major department
as well as in Legal and Accounting, IT people could be embedded in departments
as well. Those IT specialists could then coordinate with the IT department that
remains centralized.
This realignment moves the arguments about IT processes versus business needs
back into the department where it belongs. Too often today, business units get
bizarre ideas and try to force IT into reworking the IT world just for them.
Involving IT trained employees into early discussions about business process
changes can align new business plans with existing IT processes at the start,
smoothing the path for both.
Of course, IT folks get plenty of blame in this as well. When business units
want to change something small, IT often reacts as if they requested a complete
reworking of the laws of physics. This is why "real people" dislike
IT people. That, and we're smarter than they are, but too intelligent to rub
that in. OK, maybe a little.
Carr correctly leverages this disconnect between IT and business processes.
He goes too far, in my opinion, but that sells books. Just don't underestimate
the animosity toward IT, often fueled by outside services offering easy application
development and hosting. Computers aren't black magic anymore, and we're not
wizards. We're all employees, and we should learn to play nicely with our fellow
employees.
