When did the I.T. Department of most America corporations become the DMV of Technology?

If you really think about, the DMV is supposed to be at our service – much like most government agencies (WE pay their salary) – instead, not only they do not “serve” us, they loathe our very existence – that if it wasn’t for us “bothering” them, they would have a great jobs – and instead of helping us to get something resolved, they create a process and try and make us guess exactly WHAT THEY WANT. Don’t they have that backwards?

Now, I don’t mean to impugn EVERY I.T. department in every corporation in America and perhaps it’s just the last 6 companies I’ve worked for and the the couple hundred incidents I hear from other very senior management people – some low-level manager gets to tell a senior divisional executive VP, “it’s my way or the highway.”

Somewhere from sorting through the magic of selecting technology to make people and corporations more efficient, they have become the DMV of technology. There is a process and if you dislike it, I will simply cut you off and deny you the right to drive on “my” road.

Same with I.T. and their “road.” They are suppose to support marketing and sales to help them make more money or to facilitate the process of making more money but yet, why are decisions made from bottom up – decisions made because they decide what is easier for them and everyone has to follow in step?

Sure, they talk about “security” issues but isn’t everything in corporate America a security issue? Why let people or vehicles out of the building? There’s a greater chance the company truck is going to get into an accident after it leaves the company lot than if it’s parked there.

I was working on a project with a very senior executive VP at a multi-billion company – he runs a division that generates nearly a billion in sales. Since he travels a lot, I thought the best way for him to be hands on during a final phase was for him to video chat but they refused to let him install chat software because “it was unsafe.” Instead I rented a Mac laptop with a camera for several weeks at an extra cost of hundreds of dollars so he could carry that around just because I.T. set “a policy” – and damn if ANYONE, and they mean anyone was going to be different. Never mind that he has an expense account in the tens of thousands and can handshake hundred million dollar deals – but MY GOD, LET HIM INSTALL CHAT software?!!

NFW!

Is this what runs through their mind?

“Think of all the extra work I might have to do. Several minutes to install and tweak a few settings – you think I’m here to serve you?? Think again! You will take what I dish out and you will like it and not question it!”

Holy crap!

Somewhere along they line, they decided what ever would make their jobs easier was job 1 and who cares about employees who are generating revenue & sales – who cares what they want in terms of technology. Who gets to decide what passes muster in your company? The I.T. guy who just wants less work or someone who actually needs it?

eWeek published a list of “security” issues on the iPhone or really any phone … if you put the word PHOTOCOPIES or LASER PRINTER in front of it, then you realize how imbecilic scared-of-shadows bureaucrats think. By that measure, EVERYONE should go through five biometric log-ins to sit in a room with no printer and 10″ thick metal (and no ventilation system) – otherwise Ethan Hunt might drop through that.

Are there places where security might be an issue, sure but if you don’t work for a three letter agency that flutters you on a regular basis, are these scaremongers hindering your business and making to less productive? (not to mention charging you a million dollars to make themselves look smart – just don’t really think through what they are saying).

At least another eWeek columnist dares to raise the issue that maybe I.T. should join the 21st century … but since most of eWeek’s readers are I.T. guys – he didn’t go too far in saying maybe they ought to do more than just run from new/different technology.

And of course, RoughlyDrafted covers the topic with great technical detail – you know us marketing types, it’s just a bunch of numbers to us, 51% is over 50%, that’s all we care about 🙂

Just to note – we covered this briefly in our “iPhone Answers” post a few days ago.

Hopefully, I.T. will remember who they are supposed to support and not the other way around. FREEDOM! FREEDOM!