Getting It Right
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TC
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Y
www.hbr.org
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It’s been 40 years since the advent of modern IT, yet few companies do it well. If you stick to three central principles, you can turn IT from a costly mess into a powerful weapon.
Getting IT Right
by Charlie S. Feld and Donna B. Stoddard
copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860
Reprint R0402E
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TC
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Y
It’s been 40 years since the advent of modern IT, yet few companies do it well. If you stick to three central principles, you can turn IT from a costly mess into a powerful weapon.
Getting IT Right
DO
COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
by Charlie S. Feld and Donna B. Stoddard
Of all the members of the executive committee, the CIO is the least understood—mostly because his profession is still so young. Over the centuries, the fields of manufacturing, finance, sales, marketing, and engineering have evolved into a set of commonly understood practices, with established vocabularies and operating principles comprehended by every member of the senior team. By contrast, the field of information technology—born only
40 years ago with the advent of the IBM 360 in
1964—is prepubescent.
This generation gap means that, in most organizations, the corporate parent—caught in the linguistic chasm between tech-speak and business-speak—has no idea what its youngest child is up to. Management too often shrugs its shoulders, hands the kid a fat allowance, and looks the other way. Later on, the company finds it’s paid an outrageous price for the latest technological fad. Instead of addressing the problem, many companies just kick the kid out of the house.
The result in many major corporations is
that IT is an expensive mess. Orders are lost.
Customers call help desks that aren’t helpful.
Tracking systems don’t track. Indeed, the average business fritters away 20% of its
TC
OP
Y
www.hbr.org
DO
It’s been 40 years since the advent of modern IT, yet few companies do it well. If you stick to three central principles, you can turn IT from a costly mess into a powerful weapon.
Getting IT Right
by Charlie S. Feld and Donna B. Stoddard
copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or 617.783.7860
Reprint R0402E
NO
TC
OP
Y
It’s been 40 years since the advent of modern IT, yet few companies do it well. If you stick to three central principles, you can turn IT from a costly mess into a powerful weapon.
Getting IT Right
DO
COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
by Charlie S. Feld and Donna B. Stoddard
Of all the members of the executive committee, the CIO is the least understood—mostly because his profession is still so young. Over the centuries, the fields of manufacturing, finance, sales, marketing, and engineering have evolved into a set of commonly understood practices, with established vocabularies and operating principles comprehended by every member of the senior team. By contrast, the field of information technology—born only
40 years ago with the advent of the IBM 360 in
1964—is prepubescent.
This generation gap means that, in most organizations, the corporate parent—caught in the linguistic chasm between tech-speak and business-speak—has no idea what its youngest child is up to. Management too often shrugs its shoulders, hands the kid a fat allowance, and looks the other way. Later on, the company finds it’s paid an outrageous price for the latest technological fad. Instead of addressing the problem, many companies just kick the kid out of the house.
The result in many major corporations is
that IT is an expensive mess. Orders are lost.
Customers call help desks that aren’t helpful.
Tracking systems don’t track. Indeed, the average business fritters away 20% of its