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Every Company Is Now a Tech Company

ethiclub 8y ago
Unfortunately, the 'IT department' issue is only briefly mentioned in the article. But traditional organizational structure (specifically 'functional structure') is holding us back - The idea of an 'IT department' is no longer appropriate (if it ever was). It makes more sense at least to widen the 'IT' department to the scope of 'internal systems' - I.e. all infra, facilities, End-user computing, processes, applications, security, user tools etc. - Even furniture & fittings. IT has bled into facilities management et al for decades already (it's entrenched in ITIL and other standards, frameworks & libraries), and it's not valuable to split down the middle at this point. The overarching issue with traditional functional structure (IT, Finance, Marketing etc.) is that the structure doesn't plan for the future, leading to hastily bolted on components nested to whichever department most closely resembles it. There are many functions/components that are therefore crammed into incredibly inappropriate places, breaking the scope of the department and blurring lines. - When organizations realize they need a 'Supplier Tendering' function, it often gets wedged into Procurement. - When they realize they need a Compliance function, it can get wedged into Finance (compliance being an ethical and legal concern, not just financial). - Organizations have no idea where to put an Ethics accountability function (i.e. who to be accountable) - When an organization realizes they need a comprehensive Community strategy, they realize they only have a 'Marketing' department (purely monetary/transaction focused, rather than the nuanced ecosystems where operating). - When an organization realizes they need a comprehensive Customer strategy, they realize they only have a 'Sales' department (purely monetary/transaction focused, rather than the needs of the customer). These all lead to massive conflicts of interest or inefficiencies. "IT, Finance, Marketing, Sales and Production" are simply not comprehensive in scope of modern small business.

Unfortunately, the 'IT department' issue is only briefly mentioned in the article. But traditional organizational structure (specifically 'functional structure') is holding us back - The idea of an 'IT department' is no longer appropriate (if it ever was). It makes more sense at least to widen the 'IT' department to the scope of 'internal systems' - I.e. all infra, facilities, End-user computing, processes, applications, security, user tools etc. - Even furniture & fittings. IT has bled into facilities management et al for decades already (it's entrenched in ITIL and other standards, frameworks & libraries), and it's not valuable to split down the middle at this point. The overarching issue with traditional functional structure (IT, Finance, Marketing etc.) is that the structure doesn't plan for the future, leading to hastily bolted on components nested to whichever department most closely resembles it. There are many functions/components that are therefore crammed into incredibly inappropriate places, breaking the scope of the department and blurring lines. - When organizations realize they need a 'Supplier Tendering' function, it often gets wedged into Procurement. - When they realize they need a Compliance function, it can get wedged into Finance (compliance being an ethical and legal concern, not just financial). - Organizations have no idea where to put an Ethics accountability function (i.e. who to be accountable) - When an organization realizes they need a comprehensive Community strategy, they realize they only have a 'Marketing' department (purely monetary/transaction focused, rather than the nuanced ecosystems where operating). - When an organization realizes they need a comprehensive Customer strategy, they realize they only have a 'Sales' department (purely monetary/transaction focused, rather than the needs of the customer). These all lead to massive conflicts of interest or inefficiencies. "IT, Finance, Marketing, Sales and Production" are simply not comprehensive in scope of modern small business.