by Greg Shields

Dear CEO:

You already know that running a business is challenging. Running one that remains agile and profitable in today’s ever-shifting business climate is harder still. Weighing on your shoulders are the personal livelihoods of tens, or hundreds, or even thousands of people. Your employees pay their mortgages, buy groceries, raise families, and ultimately live their lives as a result of the profit you and they create for your business.

Ensuring that profit isn’t wrong; neither is it immoral. In fact, ensuring that profit is exactly what allows your employees to live their lives in the way they see fit.

But were you aware that there’s a problem within your business, impacting its ability to maintain that profit in these ever-changing times. That problem it isn’t in your product line. It isn’t within your marketing, or sales, or accounting divisions. It lies within a group of individuals who might not always be in the forefront of your mind. That group isn’t usually credited with making the business “happen” on a daily basis; yet without them, it simply can’t operate. Without the knowledge, and experience, and work that this group does on a daily basis, your business couldn’t start in the morning, couldn’t communicate with customers, and couldn’t process even the most basic of business transactions.

That fundamentally essential group is your IT department. And without really consciously trying, they’re killing your business.

Alignment Is the Problem

A strong statement, but stick with me for a bit and learn how your IT department works, both culturally and procedurally. You might be surprised at what they’re doing-and not doing-down in their assigned area of the building.

It’s at this point that I need to step back and explain my position. First and foremost, your IT department isn’t filled with bad people. They’re not lazy. They’re not problem employees, not unethical or immoral in any way. In fact, they’re quite the opposite. The employees that make up your IT department are arguably some of the most dedicated individuals in your business organization. These are the people who gladly spend the night whenever necessary to get a broken server back online. They’re the ones who will happily answer the phone on their vacations to help you reconnect your mobile device when you just can’t figure it out.

Why so dedicated? Because it takes a very unique kind of individual to choose the path of Information Technology. In these times, after the Great Technology Boom of the last century’s waning years, today’s IT professional is more than ever the shining picture of a highly-dedicated and highly-focused specialist. Different than your stereotypical “sales guy” or “marketing expert” or even your fellow executives, today’s typical IT professional finds themselves as much or more dedicated to their craft than the businesses in which they work that craft.

Yet therein lies the problem.

Today’s IT professional gets up in the morning thinking about Windows and Active Directory (AD), VMware vSphere, and Citrix XenDesktop. They ponder whether Linux makes a better solution for DNS, or whether Microsoft’s dynamic updates are actually superior. Internally, they’ll argue at length about the best solution for deploying applications to users, whether through traditional software deployment via System Center Configuration Manager or atop newer virtualization technologies like VMware ThinApp or Microsoft App-V. They’ll even ponder getting rid of your desktops altogether, replacing them with some “virtualized” replacement atop VMware View or Citrix XenDesktop.

All of these are buzzwords and concepts that are probably meaningless to you, but they hold great meaning to the practitioners in your IT department.

Today’s IT professional looks at your network as a problem to be solved, a work of art to always be improved upon. They direct their time, their effort, and your money to the projects they feel make the computing environment the very best it can be. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Their laser-focus on technology and technology solutions are what enables you to check your email from your mobile device, connect to your business applications from home or your hotel room, and successfully and securely accomplish the business transactions that bring profit to your company.

But that laser focus comes with an accompanying downside: IT professionals by nature don’t understand business. They’re by nature technologists. They get up in the morning thinking about Microsoft, and not your product line. They live, and eat, and breathe IBM, Dell, and HP, and as a result, they probably can’t tell you anything about your current product marketing campaign, or your revenues this quarter, or even what you really do as a business.

And it’s that lack of alignment between the goals and priorities of your IT department and the goals and priorities of your business that is ultimately killing your business. Got your attention? Read on.

About the Author

Greg Shields is an independent author, speaker, and IT consultant, as well as a Partner and Principal Technologist with Concentrated Technology. With 15 years in information technology, Greg has developed extensive experience in systems administration, engineering, and architecture specializing in Microsoft OS, remote application, systems management, and virtualization technologies. He is a Contributing Editor and columnist for TechNet Magazine and Redmond Magazine, and serves as the Series Editor for Realtime Publishers, the world’s leading provider of high-quality content for the IT market. Greg is a highly sought-after and top-ranked speaker for both live and recorded events, and is seen regularly at conferences like TechMentor Events, Microsoft Tech Ed, VMworld, and more. He is a multiple recipient of Microsoft “Most Valuable Professional” award.