Over the last several weeks I have been working with a couple of new clients to review their business and IT strategies.  I have also been interviewing with a firm that is looking for someone to manage that process full time.  And it comes as no surprise that many organizations are struggling with this.  Most of my clients are small to mid-sized companies that are looking to grow their business.  They have realized that technology is going to play a big part in that growth.  None of them are in the software or technology hardware business; they are a mix of organizations that provide products or services to individuals and other companies.  So for them it’s important to get as much out of technology as they can without spending their entire operating budget to do so.  In fact it is about optimizing that spend and focusing on the right things that lead them to my doorstep.

So what have I found?  Well, most companies when first starting out have only a handful of people and there seems to be a never ending stream of things that needs to get done.  So, they look for people that can do it all, not really specialists but have a general aptitude to do many things.  And IT departments are no different.  Those first few people do everything from purchase and set up PCs to run the data center (which might be just a lone server in a closet or under someone’s desk).  And you can forget about process, policies and communication, these folks are too busy just trying to keep up with the demands of the business.  But there comes a time when the business has grown up a little when you need something more.  Maybe you've grown to the point where there are now numerous people in IT but it seems like they are all just running around putting out fires or maybe the business units can't seem to get the attention of IT when they need it most and so it becomes an exercise in managing IT by the last, loudest voice.  Frustrating for all parties involved.

Some of the first things I do when looking at companies like this is to try to get an idea of the workload, understand the IT resources that are available and listen to what both sides (IT and the business) are saying.  It’s amazing what you can learn just by listening.  And one of the most common themes I hear is that IT has lost touch with the business needs –not completely unexpected if all you do is run around and put out fires every day.  What is needed is some organization and refinement of IT roles and responsibilities.  What I try to do is suggest means of gaining clarity within IT and strengthen the ties between technology and business.  Typically that means creating a team within the IT department that focuses on understanding the business – enter the business analyst. 

In my experience one of the best ways for small companies to begin this process is to take someone out of the business unit(s) and make them part of that IT organization.  This can be a very controversial approach since the same business unit you are attempting to help is probably already understaffed and stealing one of their precious resources is not going to make you a popular person – at least not initially.  Choosing the correct person is crucial, he or she has to be articulate and knowledgeable about the processes in place today but also creative and open to looking at the problems in a new way.  Remind potential candidates that in many ways they are going to live the dream of “if you can’t beat them then join them” as they will now be part of that IT team they were cursing at only yesterday.  Ideally, these people are also some of the departmental technology leaders, the ones that make all those Office-based solutions to try to make their own life better while waiting for IT to give them a real solution.  But let’s be perfectly clear, the new role this person is taking on is NOT to create new solutions or take the Access database the created for themselves in their old job and now give it to the rest of the company.  No, this role is about DEFINING what the solution needs to be able to do and not about how it does it (that’s for the developers and architects to decide).  The person in this role has to be able to accept that they are going to be using their business knowledge to defining the “what” not the “how”, they are being hired not for their technical capabilities but their subject matter expertise.  Why?  Because there are already people with specialized technology training that can create the right solution if only they could get someone to talk to them long enough so they could understand just what that solution had to look like.  Because the business analyst understands enough of the business he or she can spend a relatively short time with the front line business people gaining an understanding of their pain and the implications of any changes to existing processes, etc.  The business analyst can then take that knowledge and spend hours, days or even weeks working with the technology specialists to document and explain exactly what is needed, the functional details and all the things that must be considered when creating a solution.

Don’t get me wrong, there are also plenty of good business analysts out there in the world that don’t have to come from your operating units.  And even if you do steal someone from those units you need to invest in them so they can get the training that will make them even more effective.  The important thing to note here is what the role of the business analyst is and what it is not.

Next up: Project Management