Business users care about
their organizations’ infor-
mation, not about the
technology that interconnects
or aggregates it, even if the
information itself is timely
and accurate. In spite of
today’s technological flexibility
in delivering complex data forms, formats, and
relationships, future IT departments should ensure
they lean more toward providing information ser-
vices in ways that achieve organizational goals and
focus less on the technology delivering the infor-
mation. This is especially pertinent as users do not
always realize how much help they need using
technology intended to improve their organiza-
tions’ performance.
LISA HANE Y
This view summarizes our interviews with CIOs and a roundtable discussion we conducted in May 2007 with a dozen senior CIOs representing organizations with aggregate annual sales of more than $300 billion, including Cooper Standard, Federal Mogul, General Motors, Oakland County, Oakland University, and Penske Corporation from a cross section of industries, including manufacturing, services, and government. The CIOs said IT’s greatest value is in managing the information their organizations depend on to do business, regardless of the technology they use [ 1]. Indeed, the corporate title of
Mario Leone of Federal Mogul, an automotive supplier with annual sales of $6.5 billion, recently changed from chief information officer to chief information services officer to stress the information-services aspect of IT. Our view is further supported by a corporate case study we conducted in 2004–2005.1
Separating information services from data-cen-tered delivery technology requires that senior IT management change its thinking. By taking an information-services approach, IT personnel need not concern users with technology considerations or involve them in decisions about how information is gathered, processed, or presented. The technology is of interest only to IT personnel. Otherwise, business executives may be overwhelmed by technology, thus turning them off to IT [ 4]. It also makes them reluctant to use the information, casting IT’s potential benefit as only “hidden potential” [ 2].
How did the perception that IT delivers technology rather than business value come to be so pervasive? Deploying IT was information-driven 40 years ago when the field was called “management information systems” and, later, “information systems.” Users had minimal involvement in processing data
1Ragowsky’s and Gefen’s study “Why Information Systems Management Is in Trouble and How to Save It” was accepted for publication in Communications.
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