CIO’s say they are only getting 43 percent of the potential of their technology, an inadequate amount. Realising more from technology and moving beyond IT requires expanding how IT views itself and others view IT. There are three ‘roles’ that IT can play in an organisation, they are:
- Tending is managing IT’s current operational and investment responsibilities within existing constraints where IT needs stability, cost management and quality of service.
- Hunting occurs in situations where IT needs to be out in front — scouting and finding innovations and opportunities beyond enterprise boundaries. Some hunting projects will fail, but each helps the enterprise learn about digital technologies and value. The result is an accelerating rate of performance as new technology and business innovations take the enterprise beyond current operations.
- Harvesting occurs in situations where IT needs to raise business performance by actively changing business processes, extending products and services, and replicating best practices. Unlike tending, harvesting transforms IT infrastructure, operations and applications to produce additional results.
Business executives now expect technology to do more than work ‘in the business’, they expect IT to support the combination of growth, operational improvement, costs, customers and new technologies.