IT’s bad reputation hurting company productivity

Reputation can be a powerful thing. In some cases it can be all you have to form an opinion. In the business world, for instance, what an employee thinks of certain departments that they do not know very well could likely boil down to reputation and office scuttlebutt. Unfortunately, if the attitude toward a particular department is negative, it can spiral into something worse.

Earlier this month William Murphy, the CTO of the investment firm Blackstone Group, spoke at the annual Interop New York tech conference. During the address he described how the IT department in many organizations has a poor reputation. It is seen as adequate at best, a cost center and back-room necessity. 

"Worst case, we're categorized as people who say 'No' first and ask questions later. IT's too often considered defensive, late, overpriced, uninformed and unhelpful," Murphy said. "If Coca-Cola had a brand that was the equivalent of IT today, they would just kill it and start again,"

He went on to say that the IT department needs to start changing minds and become a place of innovation and infrastructure. Rehabilitating an IT brand is not easy, but the latest systems like cloud computing have changed it to become a valuable part of company-wide problem solving, which will help elevate overall company feelings.

Organizations that have yet to embrace the latest technology trends would be wise to partner with an IT consulting service that understands the ins and outs of them. This can be the first step toward changing a reputation.