Running IT as a business has its limits
I recently read Chris Potts piece on CIO.com where he explores the idea of the IT department being run as a business. He sees the sense in this but guards against getting too carried away with the notion because unlike a real business it does not have access to growth funding through shareholders or banks.
All true unless you actually turn your IT department into a business and truly expose it to the cold winds of commerce. The organisation from which it sprung may want to retain a majority shareholding, but the IT function is free to pursue other customers.
In my view (and experience), when put in an ‘eat what you kill’ situation it is very focusing. The hobbyist projects disappear as do the under performing staff. All love is directed towards the clients’ condition. If the sales function feels it would be better to spend its budget on more sales staff and less on sales support technology then the IT function suffers. Alternatively the IT function could develop its own sales function and convince the customer that they need to reverse their thinking.
I want to keep the torch burning on the ‘IT as a business’ model. In most cases taking the IT function to market would perhaps be extreme, but the threat of it might cause some CIOs to raise their game.