It Consultancy: It Department Transformation

By Author: Maria Blanking
Total Articles: 8
Comment this article

The role of the IT department is rapidly changing, with the end of the global recession in sight. Historically the IT department was the bastion of back-office services such as network operations, computer management, data storage and email administration; and many were sometimes ridiculed for delayed projects and poor service.

Nevertheless, the strategic and competitive advantages to the business of ‘good’ IT is being increasingly recognised at executive board level. Traditionally reserved IT departments and their staff are gradually being prised away from their electronic security blankets and encouraged to engage more proactively with the business users in order to understand and better deliver their needs.

In the past, IT has often been regarded as a thankless task. But IT can help itself by ring-fencing the routine work and spending more time forging closer ties with the business. By understanding the likely future demands on IT within the organisation, the IT department can transform itself to better meet them.

And whilst IT cost effectiveness remains a priority, MDs and CFOs are beginning to look ...
... to IT to help gain a competitive edge by changing the mix of expenditure away from maintenance and into new IT investments.

This can often translate to painful, but essential, change in the way IT is sourced, organised, and operated. Getting there is not easy, but such complex change must be managed in a deliberate and multidimensional manner. Having a clear and straightforward IT strategy is essential, as is an IT transformation plan. No one answer or approach suits all and it is equally important to have the business, managerial and personnel skills as well as IT skills to effect the necessary changes.

That change must start with the CFO and CIO, and their managers, engaging in collaborative discussions concurrently across the business and with the IT team. And, as the impact of the change will be experienced by almost everyone, setting expectations and getting as many people as possible bought into the strategy at the outset is essential. An IT transformation will be tough, but it will go smoother and will be better understood and accepted when leadership has won hearts and minds.

For more information on CCL’s IT consultancy activities, computer investigations, digital forensics, or CCL’s other products and services, call us on 01789 261200, email contact@cclgroupltd.com, visit www.cclgroupltd.com, or check out http://www.cclgroupltd.com/consultancy.

Author:
Maria is a specialist IT Consultant at CCL Group - the UK’s leading supplier of digital forensics and IT consultancy, including: department transformation, computer forensics, mobile phone forensics and digital investigation services.