5 ms·

Often all or most administrative (read: non-revenue-generating, non-operational) functions for the company fall under the CFO--simply because the finance functi

Often all or most administrative (read: non-revenue-generating, non-operational) functions for the company fall under the CFO--simply because the finance function is administrative but the CFO pretty much has to report to the CEO. The GC is administrative--as is HR, real estate, etc.--so they all often report to the CFO.

gumby 13y ago
Indeed, even in medium-sized companies I/T will often be part of the CFO's department. Fortunately I/T seems to be on it way out, though regrettably slowly.
- odonnellryan 13y ago
  Just curious, why's that fortunate?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - gumby 13y ago
    I wrote, "Fortunately I/T seems to be on it way out, though regrettably slowly." Noblethrasher and odonnellryan asked what I meant. I am referring to "I/T" as a corporate computing function within the company, a function which often hiders rather than accelerates the business. I/T typically picks technologies which are easier for I/T. Hence there's a corporate standardization on one mail system, one OS; very strict upgrade cycles etc. This kind of made sense in an earlier era when computing wasn't really integrated into the business processes -- people would be "on email" and if the icons changed an expensive "training program" had to be rolled out because the majority of working people had a passive aggressive learned helplessness towards computers. What happened is that people became more savvy and worked around I/T. First it was the PC: the appeal of the Apple II was that you could buy one, add a copy of Visicalc, plunk it down on your desk, and get work done without dealing with those assholes in I/T. I/T (this is before CIOs etc) fought back (just look at magazines like Datamation from the 1980s to see; I am not exaggerating) and took control of the PC infrastructure. Around 2000 departments would start to put in wifi access points and local file servers under secretaries' desks to just get work done. I/T again was seen as a barrier. Nowadays I/T is freaking out about "BYOD" because people wouldn't put up with the crappy company-issued blackberries etc. But it is making business more efficient and humane. You could see the nails entering the coffin for a long time, but these things take time. When I was at MIT in the 1980s I would get a laugh when I would run across a piece of literature from MIT's I/T department about the computing crucial capabilities they provided to MIT -- because they had nothing to do with the systems we depended on in the research labs which were mature and two generations beyond what I/T offered. And even now, heavily computer-intensive businesses often have disjoint departments and technologies for their customer-facing work and their internal systems (a few huge products like Oracle are rare exceptions).
    - odonnellryan 13y ago
      Oh, I definitely agree. I've worked IT for a while. It definitely serves as a barrier to work (oh, you want access to THAT file?! No way! You need someone to request it for you...) However, that's not because that's what we wanted to do. That's because someone had the bright idea to bring a paper to the CEO, and he said "We can't just have everyone accessing every damned file!!!" Believe me, it's just as rough being the enforcer as it is being the one being enforced! However, I think we'll need people to fix computers, update the servers, and wake up at 2AM to put a fan in the server room ;)
- noblethrasher 13y ago
  Seconded, where is IT going and why is that fortunate?

gumby 13y ago

Indeed, even in medium-sized companies I/T will often be part of the CFO's department. Fortunately I/T seems to be on it way out, though regrettably slowly.

odonnellryan 13y ago
Just curious, why's that fortunate?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- gumby 13y ago
  I wrote, "Fortunately I/T seems to be on it way out, though regrettably slowly." Noblethrasher and odonnellryan asked what I meant. I am referring to "I/T" as a corporate computing function within the company, a function which often hiders rather than accelerates the business. I/T typically picks technologies which are easier for I/T. Hence there's a corporate standardization on one mail system, one OS; very strict upgrade cycles etc. This kind of made sense in an earlier era when computing wasn't really integrated into the business processes -- people would be "on email" and if the icons changed an expensive "training program" had to be rolled out because the majority of working people had a passive aggressive learned helplessness towards computers. What happened is that people became more savvy and worked around I/T. First it was the PC: the appeal of the Apple II was that you could buy one, add a copy of Visicalc, plunk it down on your desk, and get work done without dealing with those assholes in I/T. I/T (this is before CIOs etc) fought back (just look at magazines like Datamation from the 1980s to see; I am not exaggerating) and took control of the PC infrastructure. Around 2000 departments would start to put in wifi access points and local file servers under secretaries' desks to just get work done. I/T again was seen as a barrier. Nowadays I/T is freaking out about "BYOD" because people wouldn't put up with the crappy company-issued blackberries etc. But it is making business more efficient and humane. You could see the nails entering the coffin for a long time, but these things take time. When I was at MIT in the 1980s I would get a laugh when I would run across a piece of literature from MIT's I/T department about the computing crucial capabilities they provided to MIT -- because they had nothing to do with the systems we depended on in the research labs which were mature and two generations beyond what I/T offered. And even now, heavily computer-intensive businesses often have disjoint departments and technologies for their customer-facing work and their internal systems (a few huge products like Oracle are rare exceptions).
  - odonnellryan 13y ago
    Oh, I definitely agree. I've worked IT for a while. It definitely serves as a barrier to work (oh, you want access to THAT file?! No way! You need someone to request it for you...) However, that's not because that's what we wanted to do. That's because someone had the bright idea to bring a paper to the CEO, and he said "We can't just have everyone accessing every damned file!!!" Believe me, it's just as rough being the enforcer as it is being the one being enforced! However, I think we'll need people to fix computers, update the servers, and wake up at 2AM to put a fan in the server room ;)
noblethrasher 13y ago
Seconded, where is IT going and why is that fortunate?