Prescription to remedy the IT-business relationship

Abstract

[Introduction]: Since the introduction of computers in the early 1960s, many organisations have reported a troubled relationship between business and information technology (IT) professionals. Some forty years on, and despite many attempts to resolve the troubled relationship, tensions still exist. These tensions have, in recent times, been attributed to the cultural differences between business people (those who use IT) and IT people (those who make IT work). Establishing an effective relationship between these two disparate groups is essential for organisational success in today’s competitive global economy. In an effective relationship, IT and business professionals work together to understand business opportunities, determine needed functionality, choose among technology options, and decide when urgent business needs demand sacrificing technical excellence for immediate, incomplete solutions (Rockart, Earl & Ross, 1996). This chapter examines the troubled IT-business relationship from a cultural perspective. Firstly, six ingredients necessary for an effective IT-business relationship are explored. Secondly, some of the more typical characteristics of IT groups are identified. Then, the effects of each of these cultural characteristics on each of the six essential ingredients of an effective relationship are discussed. As a starting point for reconciliation between business and IT professionals, insights are provided as to how tensions in the IT-business relationship can be minimised through managing the IT culture.