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Tearin' Down the Walls
Greetings!
I did it. I had the walls around IT torn down. And I can now happily admit that it was one of the great pleasures of my career.
I was interim CIO for a large hospitality company. At first I was simply agitated about wasting 53 seconds a day opening and closing those doors just to get to my office. But I quickly understood that the walls existed to send a message to rest of the company....that IT wanted to be left alone.
Not everyone in IT felt this way. But there it stood anyway, the wall and its neon-red symbolism flashing "Keep Out".
So I raised my own symbolic sign as the walls came down. (My sign was neon blue, much more warm and inviting than red...) My sign exclaimed "IT is open for business".
Of course, tearing down those walls only sent a message. IT still had to deliver on its new promise. Fortunately, the talent in IT was the best around and did deliver for the business.
Besides the fact that I like telling this story, it's relevant because of a recent, very popular Wall Street Journal article from March of this year. It clearly articulates the need to tear down the walls separating IT from the business.
The article describes how IT became isolated from the business (5 reasons), and describes how to position IT for greater business impact (7 steps). Well worth the read.
When IT is up against the wall, struggling to become a valued part of the business, the walls must come down. It's a humbling experience, but a critical step in building IT trust and credibility.
John Hughes
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