If Coca-Cola had a brand that was the equivalent of IT today, they would kill it and start again, says Blackstone Group CTO. He shares 4 processes IT leaders can use to change IT’s bad rep.
William Murphy, CTO of the investment firm Blackstone Group, seemed like a pleasant enough fellow when he came onto the Interop New York tech conference stage this week. He even promised to kick things off on a high note.
Then he proceeded to describe the perception of IT departments as at best adequate — a cost center and a back-office necessity at many companies. Worst case, “we’re categorized as people who say ‘No’ first and ask questions later,” Murphy said. IT’s too often considered defensive, late, overprice, uninformed and unhelpful.
“If Coca-Cola had a brand that was the equivalent of IT today, they would just kill it and start again,” said Murphy. At Blackstone, Murphy changed the name of IT to Innovations & Infrastructure, and took some meatier steps (more below on that) to reshape the perception of IT.
More of the InformationWeek article by Chris Murphy
Tags: it service levels, it strategy
I think there’s so much pressure on IT groups when it comes to safety, maintenance and security, that the natural response gravitates to “No” and IT turns more into a disabler than an enabler in many companies. This is paralysis by fear and leadership is responsible… not IT. Corporations need to be concerned with IT issues – but never to the point that it’s disabling productivity, progress and innovation!