Any homeowner knows the travails of DIY projects. You need a new deck and figure you can do it yourself. At the local big box hardware store, you notice faucets and remember that you wanted to put a new one in the kitchen. So, you buy it and install it, but need to run back to the store for the right wrench. When you turn on the light to admire your handiwork the switch doesn’t work, so back to the store a couple more times for the switch and a new cover plate because you broke the old one taking it off.
When you get home, you discover that you’ve been robbed. The thieves tore off a part of your crumbling deck and used it to break a window.
In an International Data Group (IDG) study commissioned by CenturyLink, IT managers reported feeling like our oppressed homeowner. They relate that about 75 percent of staff time is spent on day-to-day maintenance of core functions, the IT equivalent of kitchen faucets and light switches. Yet, they also know that they need to build the metaphorical equivalent of new decks. Expectations are rising for IT initiatives that drive new revenue streams, new efficiencies and new business models. The top drivers of change are mobile, cloud and big data.
And no one wants to be robbed, so more than half the managers also flagged security as a huge issue in any new initiative.
The study adds some quantitative texture to pressures we all know are weighing on IT shops everywhere. Technology now provides more than just automation. It empowers digital transformation of any business. If we can imagine what we want the business to look like, the technology likely exists to create that value proposition.
Digital transformation creates new business models and new ways of creating customer value. Big data initiatives alone can provide the insights to create new products and services that customers want even if they cannot quite articulate the need themselves. Yet, standing up an Apache Hadoop cluster takes a lot of work. Likewise, a sensor network threaded through a manufacturing operation can produce efficiencies through the Internet of Things. However, those sensors and the networks connecting them to the analytics engine do not install themselves. Meanwhile, the network is down and it’s time to renew your Oracle license. It’s hard to build tomorrow when there’s only 24 hours to get everything done today.
Like the homeowner, the IT manager is caught in the tensions of the modern world. The big projects that add real value are piling up, but the water still needs to run and the lights need to stay on.
You might take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in feeling this tension. The IDG study indicates it is a pretty common feeling. Yet, that also indicates that the race is on to figure out a way to deal with it. Said differently, competitive advantage flows to the IT shop that navigates this tension in the fastest, most cost-effective way.
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