Do you know the business impact of the request you are making of your IT department? Understanding how to get what you need involves understanding what IT has to consider in balancing your request.
For example, consider for a moment how your request compares to the many competing priorities across the business. If you’re not sure how much value it holds then it may be problematic for your IT manager to prioritize it.
Understanding the strategic value IT brings
Thankfully, leaders in today’s companies have an increasingly better understanding of the strategic value in bringing IT earlier into the planning conversations. This helps surface one of the most important questions: what is the return on this investment of resources?
Your busy IT manager may mobilize a host of resources to activate and manage your request through completion, including product marketing, sales, network operations, financial operations, customer service, security and legal. A typical day for an IT manager means working across a portfolio of projects, all varying in complexity and phases of completion.
In fact, there’s a term for what happens when these projects start to back up into one another: “moving the bubble.”
In order to help your IT organization avoid moving the bubble, here are three ways you can work better with your IT manager to get what you need:
- Engage early. Get your IT manager into your discussion before your requirements are built – they can save you time while also enhancing the value of the overall effort.
- Understand impact. Clearly define the business impact of your request to IT in terms that help them reprioritize effectively.
- Offer reasonable expectations. Flexibility allows your IT manager to put valuable resources where they matter.
Finally, it’s also important to understand that change is dramatically accelerated in today’s environment – even compared to just five years ago. This requires agility, a key competency for an IT manager and their team.
Your project either enhances their productivity and the bottom line for the business or it slows it down. It’s important to work with your IT manager to drive your business as a team, using the tips outlined above.
Do you have suggestions to add to the list above? Let me know @VerizonJason
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