Going beyond just 'keeping the lights on'

THE constant tug-of- war between the information technology department and the business unit in organisations over IT requirements has resulted in the former facing the threat of becoming marginalised in the decision-making process, according to a senior executive at a consultancy firm.

Kevin Wo, senior VP and Asean MD at Avanade, says the role of IT has always been to help "keep the lights on", referring to its supporting role to the business function. Technology has become the source of innovation in recent years and more non-technical executives have familiarised themselves with tech applications. With this has come the expectation that the IT department would get elevated, as the source of tools for innovation.

On the contrary, however, many IT departments are being seen as obstacles to innovation. Business executives want faster creation of applications, and those which work as well as the consumer products on the cloud that they have grown familiar with, such as Google's Gmail which delivers email through a browser.