Getting Along: LOB vs IT

It is a recurring theme amongst our customers: Lines of Business want things that IT can’t provide, go off and do things without telling IT, make commitments for systems and software that is incompatible with everything else, etc.

The source of the conflict is easy to identify. IT professionals have been asked to do more and more with less and less…forever. The business is asked to grow faster and smarter.  The reality is, there is nothing (probably) that you would do to innovate your business, go after new markets, or achieve better profitability that doesn’t include digitization. This conflict has to end and these two side need to forge a new way of working together.

The Mobile Thought Leaders (MTL) recent study on mobile and digital transformation strategy offers some insights on the form and function of this new relationship, providing insights from the MTL members who have advanced the most along the path towards harmony and innovation.  Those insights are digested in a short guide to how IT can position its capabilities and services to better align with the ways that business leaders can identify them and consume them.

The guide offers some specific examples of technologies, services, and functions that the lines of business need to be able to access to avoid having transformation projects that fall short or outright fail and how technology leaders can package them to make them fit better with the emerging need.  Areas of specific coverage:

• Identity and Access Management
• Security Policy Management
• System Integration and Data Access
• Logistics and Support
• Cost Management

There is plenty more in the full report (available here) around the culture and governance changes that are advancing organizations, but this piece offers some concrete next steps that everyone can utilize.