For a long time, legacy infrastructure came between IT and business. Each was left to its own devices: IT staff watched over technical processes, and business centers managed business activities. Each sector essentially spoke its own language. Ironically, however, the same legacy infrastructure that previously drove them apart now is bringing them together as the two collaborate toward a unified business goal.
Thriving CIOs
The emergence of a myriad of cloud technologies and hosting services has led many to believe that developers and service providers will eventually take over the role of the CIO in the corporate IT hierarchy. Even though Forrester reports a decrease in IT purchases, the decrease is not significant; such purchases are driven solely by the line of business.
Where before they couldn’t see eye to eye, IT and business now recognize the need to pool their resources and collaborate on a framework that has been holding back progress. In the technology-driven and high-speed business environment, enterprise IT can’t simply be left to the management of one group, working in an exclusive turf. The stakes are too high and the interest of the business must be protected. As such, businesses must move to refocus their efforts at IT and business collaboration, and they must leverage technology as a business enabler and growth driver.
In the past, the CIO was seldom invited to the business decision table. For a while, the CIO role was perceived to be dropping off. But at a time when major forces affecting industries are all technology-based, the CIO expertise is a crucial factor in business decision making. For the sake of business development and growth, technology innovation can’t be consigned to the back seat. Business managers are focused on productivity, cost reduction, and raising revenues – not on cloud computing, business intelligence, mobility, and analytics.If CIOs and business managers work together in a collaborative manner, their world would be an ideal one.
Predicaments Turn Into Opportunities
Legacy infrastructure has crippled businesses' efforts to develop and adopt new applications. This often brings IT systems to crossroads with dead ends. Surprisingly, that same infrastructure is now compelling IT and business to work together to allow enterprises to experience the benefits that big data and other powerful technology trends offer.
When IT moves toward application development and business follows the direction of the cloud, redundancies may sow confusion among users. This situation may also be a big setback for deeper collaboration and threaten business goals. The best that IT and business can do is to decide together on a unified course of action to retain, discard, reengineer, or enhance legacy infrastructure--depending on the needs of the enterprise.
CapGemini, a consulting and technology giant, put it clearly when it said that there is an urgent need for bolder approaches and game-changing moves to depart from legacy systems that hamper business growth. This means a daring shift to hugely standardized software-as-a-service options that allow for easy interface and convergence with other systems and applications. It is quick to add that the success of this pivotal endeavor will depend on how well prepared the people and processes of the organization are for an inevitable transformative impact.
An IT and business partnership can be viewed as an unconventional marriage between two previously opposing forces that could shake up business models. Its success can lead to unprecedented breakthroughs that could make all busineness stakeholders live happily ever after.