#6 Executives can easily misapply IT - Twelve things every business leader should know about IT

Executives misapply IT when they use technology to address problems not caused by technology. It's easy to see how this is possible as the IT industry grew up with a value proposition that promised technology's ability to just about every problem in the enterprise. This message driven IT investment and executive expectations for more than 30 years.

As information systems have spread across the enterprise, technology becomes a readily available option for improvement. A CIO who is also responsible for HR and Operations explains it this way, "IT is the easiest thing to change for executives all you have to do is write a check! " You may have seen it in your own company, when a major operational issue takes on the name of the software package rather than the business process or operation being changed.

The potential for IT being misapplied is increasing as IT systems now cover the majority of business operations. Service oriented approaches increase the flexibility of these systems and their ability to support incremental change rather than redevelopment.

Increasingly executives will face the need to change the business processes, organization structure or reorient jobs to achieve their goals rather than redeveloping systems.

How do you know?

Simply trace the performance issue back to its root cause. When people say, our problem is poor systems, probe further and ask why the systems are poor. Do they support poor processes? Do they support complex products? Are they complex because the organization structure is complex?

Answering these questions honestly will drive to the root cause of business performance will ensure that you do not misapply IT.

The response may include IT investment, but it must include addressing the other changes needed to raise performance of the business capability (see Item #3- IT is part of a capability)

Investing in IT to treat a symptom, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem only perpetuates the myth that IT does not deliver value, that you do not understand the business, and that IT has passed its prime.