First, the status quo of traditional enterprises and IT departments

Let’s take a look at an example, this is a production enterprise to its IT department function definition (at that time was written into the red header file issued) :

What do you think of the functions of the IT department of this company? Are the functions clear? The following is the author’s understanding, and its functions mainly include four points:

  • Responsible for IT system construction;
  • Responsible for IT system operation and maintenance;
  • Responsible for network and information security;
  • Responsible for computer repair and maintenance.

What else to improve security, improve the level of information is relatively virtual.

Despite the fact that every industry and every business insists “We are different!” . However, in fact, most of the IT departments in traditional enterprises in China have the same functions. The reason why I did not include “IT system design and planning” here is that although most traditional enterprises have this item in their functional description, the restriction of various systems makes the traditional IT departments lose the right and ability of IT planning. The situation is a little better, the approval right of information construction is still in the IT department, some of the worse even the IT system construction, the business department will bypass IT to purchase software by themselves, and even the operation and maintenance of the system is the business department itself! (helpless)

In many traditional enterprises, the IT department does not have a big voice, and IT is also the earliest affected department to lay off employees when the company is confronted with the economic crisis.

Therefore, so many IT department staff self-mockery: we are the company’s network management and repair the computer! .

Second, why the traditional enterprise, IT department will be marginalized?

  • First, the most fundamental reason, just two words: “value”!

It is an iron rule that how much value you can create for the company, how much say you have.

In traditional enterprises, IT departments are only responsible for system operation and maintenance, network wiring, computer maintenance and so on. Some low-value work, of course, will not be valued or even respected. There is no “job type” discrimination here. It just means that the traditional IT department’s work is not in the “main value chain” of the enterprise, nor does IT create the expected value for the enterprise. Thus, IT will gradually be marginalized and lose the right to speak.

  • The second is the organizational setting

Most traditional enterprises will set a CIO at the top of the enterprise, or by the vice president in charge of information; The IT department sets up a minister, who is divided into several departments, such as: network group, software group, operation and maintenance group… , larger enterprises in the departments under the side will also set up some leaders, such as: management information group, production information group… . This organization pattern is a typical “pyramid” organization at the branch level, with low communication and coordination efficiency. The response speed of new demand can not keep up, and the cycle of problem processing is long, so it is often criticized by the business.

  • Third, it is the assessment mechanism

Traditional corporate IT department assessments follow industrial manufacturing or office clerical terms, or purely project-based assessments. For the assessment mechanism of enterprise IT department, IT is not bound together with the real value and goal of the enterprise. This seems to bring us back to the first point.

I still remember, the boss gave us the training: “work is like a burning fireplace, effort is wood, success is fire, want the fireplace is flourishing, you need to keep adding wood”. The boss told us to work hard so that we could get promoted and paid more quickly, but we were whispering in our hearts: “Salary is firewood, and effort is fire. If you want the fire to be prosperous, then you can give me a salary increase”. It’s human nature.

Back to the subject: How can IT departments not be marginalized?

Change!

III. Enterprise Digital Transformation Needs “New IT”

Under the tide of enterprise digital transformation, IT departments have faced unprecedented opportunities and challenges. Enterprise digital transformation, IT department leaders must stand out, do the transformation of the transformation of the facilitator. We should strive for leaders’ attention and support, train digital technical talents and establish digital technology system, and do a good job in technology and business.

I plan to write a separate article detailing how IT can gain the attention and support of top leaders. For more information on the development of digital talent, please refer to “Organization and Talent in the Digital Transformation of Enterprises”. Here, I would like to talk with you about how to redefine IT under the digital transformation of enterprises.

3.1 Redefine IT

The new era, the new mission of IT department — the promoter of enterprise digital transformation. This mission determines that IT departments must transform, must redefine IT.

  • First, from the back end, to the front, deep into the business.

The IT department transformation, must break “do not understand the business, will only repair the computer, network cable” “magic spell”, deep into the business to understand the business, learn the business, master the business. Only when IT personnel have a deep understanding of the business needs, can they transform the business flow in the real world into the data flow in the computer virtual space and time, design the digital application scenes and digital products in line with the business and close to the business, help the business personnel to improve efficiency, reduce costs and create value for the enterprise.

  • Second, shift from an operations and maintenance center to an empowerment center.

The IT department is the evangelist and enforcer of the enterprise digital transformation. On the one hand, IT should help other departments of the enterprise understand the role and trend of digital transformation, and pave the way from the consciousness of transformation. On the other hand, it is necessary to empower business departments through digital tools, technologies and data, so that business personnel can learn to use digital systems and master certain digital skills.

  • Thirdly, shift from cost center to profit center.

Since IT department cannot directly create value and bring profits to the enterprise, IT also needs a certain amount of IT investment, so most companies consider IT department as the cost center. In my opinion, in the digital age, IT should not be defined solely in terms of cost, rather, IT investment should be regarded as an investment. The investment will have income, and the IT investment income, more reflects the optimization of the business process support, help the business to achieve efficiency, quality, cost reduction and innovation. In addition, in terms of cost, enterprises should not only focus on the acquisition cost of IT, but also on the total cost of ownership.

When IT goes deep into the business and becomes the link between business and technology, when IT drives business innovation with technology, when IT becomes the digital evangelist and enabler, then IT department is no longer a cost center, but a profit center that can create value for the enterprise.

  • Finally, what about traditional IT operations?

Here is another question: IT departments have all learned business, enabling business, innovative business, then who will do the traditional information system operation and maintenance work?

In fact, the enterprise digital transformation we are talking about includes both technological upgrading and business transformation. Information system operation and maintenance is also a business, which also needs transformation and upgrading. Enterprises can support the operation and maintenance work by building digital technologies and systems for unified monitoring and operation, such as cloud and containerization of application systems, integration, automation and intelligence of IT operation and maintenance tools, which will improve the efficiency of IT operation and maintenance and reduce the cost of operation and maintenance. This allows the IT department to devote more resources and time to implementing and innovating on business requirements.

3.2 Integration of IT and business

Enterprise digital transformation and data governance all require deep integration of technology and business, but how?

The deep integration of technology and business is to let IT into the business and business into IT. The following three ideas are for reference:

  • First, let IT technicians work together and have meetings with business people in the business department. In this way, even if you don’t deliberately learn business knowledge, you can also understand the business by osmosis every day.
  • Second, let the business people work in IT department, so that the business people also understand how IT technical people think. In fact, many enterprises are already doing so, such as China Merchants Bank. In China Merchants Bank, many people from the business department work in the IT department rather than the business department for a long time. In the information technology department, people who are proficient in banking can also be project leaders. The establishment of information technology project of China Merchants Bank shall be examined and confirmed by relevant departments such as information technology, business department and accounting department together, and the project can only be approved by all parties of technology and business. Therefore, the IT department of China Merchants Bank has a strong voice and is known as the “upper class man” in China Merchants Bank.
  • Third, IT technical goals should be aligned with the business goals of the enterprise. In digital transformation, the goal of IT should not stay at the technical level such as how many systems are built, how many modules are designed and how many functions are developed, but more should stand on the business perspective, align with the business goals of the enterprise, and focus on the optimization of business processes, management improvement and business innovation.

The author firmly believes that, with the continuous development of technology, the increasing awareness of digital from all walks of life, and the increasing maturity of schools and society in digital education, the boundary between technology and business will be broken one day. In the near future, all talents will be digital talents, but they will be divided into digital professionals who are committed to the construction of digital infrastructure, and digital professionals who are committed to the application of digital technology to achieve business value-added and innovative digital applications.

3.3 Build the “base” of enterprise digital technology

Enterprise digital transformation, IT department also has an important responsibility, that is to build the digital technology base for the enterprise.

Base on enterprise digital technology, there is no a standard definition, is the most relevant provider of IT products and services, but there is a problem, although GeChang agent in constructing digital technology base for the enterprise, but each manufacturer is defined on the base of the enterprise digital cognition and differences, and the difference is very big.

  • Those who do the technology platform will think that the enterprise digital base is the technology platform, providing IT infrastructure such as DevOps, micro-services, containerization and low code.
  • ERP people will think that the digital base of the enterprise is the resource and ability sharing center based on the “new ERP”, such as financial sharing center, human resources sharing center, procurement center, sales center, etc.
  • Those engaged in data governance, data warehouse and BI will think that the digital base of an enterprise is a data platform or data middle platform, which provides data asset management, data calculation, data analysis, data mining, data application, data visualization and other data management and application capabilities.
  • Cloud computing, cloud service, will think that the enterprise digital technology base is cloud computing, various IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, DaaS, in short, the enterprise to digital transformation must first “cloud”……

Of course, for manufacturers, stand in their own advantageous point of view to talk about the enterprise digital technology base, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, this is also understandable.

However, for enterprises, each enterprise has different internal and external environment, industry, enterprise scale, IT and business status quo, digital demand, and the digital technology base required is also different. Enterprises must think clearly, you need the digital technology base in the end should be what? If you have no idea, I suggest you do business development, agile organization and talent development first.

3.4 Take data as the starting point to do a good job in business empowerment

Enterprise digital transformation, “data” is the IT department’s strongest grasp, “technology” is the IT department’s biggest advantage. The IT department should make good use of these grasping hands and advantages to empower the business and enhance the overall digital capability of the enterprise.

  • Tool empowerment: can you do business without digital tools? Of course can! But having digital tools at your fingertips will greatly increase the efficiency of your business, reduce the cost of your business, and make your business more efficient with less effort. Therefore, IT departments should help businesses build digital tools that meet their current situation and needs. We all know that, but how do we build such a tool? It always seems to return to the “century-old entanglement” between IT and business, “business says this function is not what I want, IT says your demand is not clear!” In the final analysis, IT needs to go deep into the business, and the business needs to think as much as possible with technical thinking.
  • Technology Enabling: Digital transformation is the process of reshaping the business model and information environment of an enterprise by using digital technology. Therefore, digital transformation cannot be separated from digital technology. Current digital technologies include: big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, blockchain, AI, 5G, VR/AR, etc. Technology enablement itself contains two meanings: first, the teacher should teach the students, first of all, the teacher’s own knowledge, in addition to do a good job in the teaching plan. Second, each technology has its own personality, and each business also has its own personality. Only when the personality of the technology and the personality of the business match, is the true marriage.
  • Data empowerment: This is easy to understand, and I have mentioned it many times in my article, whether it is “data insight”, “user portrait”, “product portrait”, “smart touch”, “thousand faces”… All belong to the business scenarios of data empowerment. In fact, the essence of data empowerment is to “push the right data to the right users at the right time”. Data analysis can help business optimize the process, but also can assist leaders to make scientific decisions.

The above is my superficial thinking on the transformation of IT department under the digital transformation. How do you think the IT staff will transform in the future? Please feel free to discuss in the comments section.

References:

  • China Merchants Bank: Let IT Understand Business, Wang Xiaoying
  • “Teacher He Fan: Technology Enabling”, moist

Source: Talk about data

Author: Shi Xiufeng

Disclaimer: The article was forwarded on IDCF public account (devopshub) with the authorization of the author. Quality content to share with the technical partners of the Sifou platform, if the original author has other considerations, please contact Xiaobian to delete, thanks.

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