Obsolete. Ancient. Dated.
Really, is there really such a thing as IT being a cost center for your business? Is IT just a necessary evil to be right sized or does it define your business itself.
Indeed every single business today is defined by its information systems. Whether it be supply chain operations, digital marketing, customer e-servicing, social networking or just plain internal process optimization and control, IT is the new way of thinking. Without it, business can no longer be defined. Launching a new product entails devoting probably 40% of the budget to information systems, viz. promotions, campaigns, conversion tracking, customer service mechanisms and then the product offering itself. If there are no information systems, there will be no product, or should we say no successful product.
Yet, there is so much wasted talk about aligning IT with business and about how CIOs must prove the value to their CEOs. Everyone cannot be a business or operations strategist. Just as we don’t expect everyone to know about IT strategy.
We just need to let the right people do their jobs, and help them do it well. The obsession about trying to prove that IT is not a cost center but a business partner is fruitless. If there is really a need to prove it, then seriously, you and your company have bigger and more pressing problems to solve .
Opportunity is knocking and it really wants to get in the door. Lets just roll up our sleeves and get to work.