Who Competes with IT?
In his CIO post Who are the IT Department’s "competitors"? Chris Potts makes reference to a global survey that tried to pin down what differentiates successful IT organisations [within companies] from their competitors. Chris picks up on who the IT department’s competitors might be. This I feel is a very interesting question. I go along with his points that the competitors include:
- external suppliers
- IT departments in other companies – used by the CFO to beat their IT function down on budget.
I would also add:
- The Finance function – often there is a political friction between the two departments
- The Marketing function – e-commerce and now social networking look set to move the axis of IT power out of the IT function.
- The IT industry – which is creating technologies that are likely over time to obviate the need for technologists in end-user organisations
- Anything else worthy of capital investment – The CEO needs to decide whether his dollar will yield more value lying in a savings account or would it be best to invest in the IT function.
With a bit more thought I am sure the list could be extended.
