The way that we approach business today is ever-changing; there are tons of other factors that we need to take into account compared to before. Because of our need to effectively keep up with ever-evolving technology, each and every department within an organization has to move quickly enough to catch up. The department that has to adjust the most nowadays is the IT department; their roles now expand and have impacted services which mainly involved sales, business strategies, intranet solution, and customer service. After taking that into account, IT is now turned into an effective driving force in numerous aspects of a business.
Leaders than Supporters
For anyone that wants to handle all the complications relevant to IT, they need to understand that IT is now more than one department. Numerous researches suggested that approximately 34 companies view the IT department as the best driver or innovation within businesses. IT workers are already tech-savvy, but they now create applications in all parts of an organization.
IT person personnel do more than just facilitate the entire business goal, they strive to improve at an organizational level. CEOs and business owners lean more to IT now in delivering an advantage that will make the business stand out among the competition, specifically in the marketing strategy field. It’s not all that surprising that we grow more and more dependent on technology, so IT is quickly moving to the front of the business world.
Important IT Skill Set
There is a high demand for skilled IT personnel in the IT world, especially if you take into account that IT is expanding to more fields in a company. It may not be enough to hire someone who simply knows the basics of IT work, they also have to go above and beyond. Machines, applications and all sorts of technology are becoming ever more intelligent. Thus, employees need to work alongside the development of the said factors and keep up.
Similar to when workers all across an enterprise must become tech-savvy, the entire IT department must grasp the entire idea of marketing and every drawback that comes with it. A business must hire people with a good idea of how a business works; hiring people who offer effective technical support skills might not suffice. Industries must adjust to the new talent ecosystem.
Renovating the Workforce
Customers and clients don’t see a company as departments all working together to provide service, rather they perceive it as a single entity. Having that said, the IT department also has a huge role to play in marketing, sales as well as customer service. Companies should stop perceiving IT as an incredibly different department that does their own thing for the company. IT is a field that efficiently supports the flow and ebb of business.
IT departments are extremely essential in developing an agile organization. You may not notice it all that much, but their influence is spreading across the departments of an organization so CIOs need to transform the entire workforce in order to keep up with the change. Among the factors to consider is how the workforce will be constructed and how to develop a culture that drives innovation. At first, it may seem like an almost impossible task, but CIOs have done it before; IT departments are not the only ones that need to keep up, but managers and business owners as well.
Sourcing talents and employees for a brand new business ecosystem is one option, but managers and owners should also consider other options in realizing the goal of the company. Training existing teams of employees in another option; prioritize those that mainly handle all the ups and downs of a business. Of course, the entire process sounds easier said and done, but keep in mind the famous attitude in business: adapt or fail. No matter the time we live in or the business that you own, that business attitude will never be irrelevant. All the current employees must see the importance of the change and be on board with the ideas, specifically the changing role of IT in business. New employees, on the other hand, should enter the team with a clear and concise idea.
Basically, the task of facilitating the entire process of training new and old employees falls on the CIO. A key solution to addressing the skill gaps will depend on how well a collaboration of the CEO and CMO will go. As we mentioned, there’s no stopping the constant change of technology. IT must have a hand in every department and operation of an organization or at least understand the specific process. Changing how a company views and treats an IT department from a separate entity all on their own to the lifeline of the business will mean the success and failure of the business.
