Prevention, Not Cure

Out in industry, Walters also sees the hybrid position as one part of the answer, calling for the emergence of a new breed of technologists with - wherever possible - strong technical skills combined with business knowledge, communication ability and a client-centric idealism. Where this is impossible, he says most organizations would prize a person or two with the skill and fluidity to act as "translators" between front-line technologists and the rest of the world.

"Often, the skills and mind-set that make for a great technician are different from that which makes for great strategy or communication," Walters says. "Think of the proverbial engineer who can plot how to build a bridge but can't safely cross the street; or the scientist who can work with complex formulas but is socially inept. These are contrasts between technical aptitude and emotional intelligence. Most technologists have forged solid pathways in their area of expertise, but - if they've sheltered themselves within the IT community - may be underdeveloped in other areas of intelligence; this is true for many people, of varying talents."

Walters says this very question points to one of the key reasons that there is a gulf between the IT department and the rest of the people in the organization, particularly business units and executives, for whom things like budgets, deadlines, efficiency, culture and communication are more meaningful. These things matter to the average worker because they are threatened with layoffs and job loss while the IT department is seen as mismanaging huge sums of money.

IT departments should not try to figure out how to become better attuned to user anger, Walters says. They should endeavour to find out why users are angry and seek to remedy the cause, and ultimately prevent it. Then user anger - or backlash - would substantially decrease.

As it is, IT is often seen as way out of sync with the overall needs of users, and definitely out of sync with effective business operations and strategies. Why? Because "business as usual" for many corporate IT groups means frequent budget overruns, passed and unmet deadlines, an ignorance of change-management and cultural/communication strategies, and a focus on process and technology as an end in and of itself instead of as a means to support the organization's goals and to facilitate people in doing their work more effectively and efficiently.

"Technologists are usually skilled technicians, or are skilled at process and, of course, technologies. What they often lack is an adequate understanding of business strategy, and a very incomplete understanding of culture and communication needs," Walters says. "Often, the IT group will have project managers who are technicians - skilled at moving deliberately through tasks on a project or process list. They might be certified in a particular project management process.

"What's needed is for every project to have an intermediary, someone who has the skill and demonstrated capacity to effectively interact between the IT team and the business units, executive team, and key user stakeholder groups," he says. "Like an ombudsman, or case manager, who has the authority and position to advise the IT team, and has the skill and sensitivity to ensure that strategic, cultural and communication needs are a priority right from the start of IT projects (and ongoing IT efforts).

"A lot of IT project managers think they're capable of this, and maybe a few of them are. But if all or most were, there wouldn't be the kinds of backlash issues we routinely see."

SIDEBAR: Bridging the Gap

by Mary Brandel

Relationship managers are crucial liaisons between technology and business, but without proper support, they can end up being distrusted by both

Some jobs should come with small print attached, just like the drug advertisements you see on TV. Take the job title "relationship manager", whose warning label might read: "Requires great sense of humour and high tolerance for ambiguity. Only true diplomats should apply. Do not attempt unless fully supported by the organizational structure."

The path of the relationship manager is a tricky one, fraught with political potholes and organizational obstacles. Companies create this position - also called account manager, client manager, customer liaison and business information manager - to help close gaps between IT and the business, whether they be gaps in communication, image, credibility, trust or all of the above and more.

Relationship managers are called upon to coordinate IT activities across a given business unit and drive initiatives that position the unit for competitive success, according to Marc Cecere, an analyst at Forrester Research (US).

Some people hired into this role have spent their careers in IT but also have solid business acumen and deep knowledge of business processes. Others are senior-level, technology-literate businesspeople willing to learn the inner workings of IT.

But when well-meaning companies slap a relationship manager on a rift between two warring parties like a Band-Aid and hope for the best, things can go wrong. "Where there's a deep-seated lack of IT/business alignment and the relationship between the client and IT is strained, trying to bring in a relationship manager to paper over some of these problems is not going to be successful," says Jim Hightower, a fellow at Cutter Consortium, who had a relationship manager role as an IT manager at a small utility.

"If the relationship between IT and the business is already unstable, the relationship manager is just someone who's putting out fires and smoothing out problems," agrees Craig Symons, a Forrester analyst. "That's not going to get you very far."

Indeed, while 40 out of 100 companies surveyed by Forrester last August said they have a relationship manager function, there are many ways to get it wrong, Cecere says.

Hiring the right person is the first challenge. It's a rare bird who can hobnob with techies and business wonks alike and also has the people skills to resolve conflict between the groups, earn credibility throughout the organization and forge a productive alignment that enables IT to meet business objectives.

Take Nan Simon, a relationship manager with the title of business information manager at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. She came from IT but had a lot of background in financial systems. Or look at Andrew Sheppard, director of relationship management at Allegis Group, who has been in IT for 18 years, but he also holds an undergraduate degree in business management and psychology and a master's degree in IT management.