Using culture to empower IT organization

Over the last decade, enterprise companies have experienced a complete IT evolution. The nature and techniques of companies are transforming to empower new shifts in technology, rapid innovation, and expansion. Culture is at the center of this strategic shift and it’s dramatically changing the way IT organizations operate.

Whether it's the cultural shift in collaboration that’s elevating the rise of DevOps, now predicted by Gartner as a mainstream enterprise strategy for 2016; social communication encouraging shadow IT; or diversity creating more inclusive decision making, culture has truly restructured IT. And, it’s done so for the better. For enterprise organizations who have not reached digital maturity, or lack an integrated digital IT strategy, there are three ways cultural influence can structure a smarter, more innovative IT organization -- hiring, communicating, and establishing purpose.

Hire smarter by acknowledging the IT skill shift

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a growth in new computer and information technology jobs of close to half a million from 2014 to 2024. But, with state-by-state tech unemployment staying extreme low, the tech talent war has never been stronger.

For enterprise organizations, especially those in more traditional industries like finance, education, and healthcare, the battle for tech talent is often not fought on an even playing field, as tech giants like Google or splashy startups in Silicon Valley aggressively lure rising talent with unconventional job perks, like slides, unlimited PTO, and on-campus daycares.

While competing in this battle can seem daunting for more standard enterprise organizations, it’s important to adapt a tech hiring strategy to appeal to today’s culturally-centered IT leaders. Instead of focusing solely on hard skills, such as fluency in coding languages or the number of IT certifications acquired, look to hire IT pros who also embrace soft, non-traditional skills that are needed to build relationships with end users, unify all departments under common processes, and curb decision-making confusion and opposition.

In addition to adequate technical skills, seek to organize the IT department with leaders who have:

• Communication skills needed to lead meetings and report to C-suite executives, teach and mentor new talent, negotiate deals or disagreements, and manage vendors.
• Empathy and sensitivity to diplomatically solve issues for end users while understanding the environment and constraints they may be under.
• Natural instincts for managing teams and projects, which is an innate ability that allows leaders to know how to instinctively motivate a team and foresee non-technical issues before they become a problem.

Innovate faster with open communication

Open communication is the most valued cultural perk a company can offer, according to a 2015 15Five workplace survey. Company-wide communication promotes diverse collaboration, curiosity, and a healthy dose of open-mindedness. For growing organizations that may even be reaching a global scale, communication and collaboration can be difficult, but is imperative to improving overall productivity, generating results, and solving the needs of end users and clients. The same notion can be extended to IT.

Establishing an effective communication strategy is not only critical to establishing IT as a strategic partner within the business, it’s one of the greatest cultural components of driving faster innovation.

The end result to deploying open, transparent communication within the IT structure is quicker response rates to incidents in real-time, greater project management oversight, more agile rapid application development, and the ability to more closely monitor attitude changes and levels of satisfaction.

For IT departments looking to execute open communication to bolster enhanced cultural tactics, there is no one-size-fits-all model or specific tool to fit particular needs. When implementing a communication strategy, focus on tactics and processes that are fully transparent, inclusive, collaborative, and respectful of each team member's skill set. Additionally, outside of using communication tools, take time to meet face-to-face regularly to report on progress, discuss new expectations, and help the team stay accountable for both individual and collective goals.

Strengthen company purpose with full integration

The foundation of every enterprise culture is grounded in a greater purpose or mission to which its stakeholders serve. Extending this same idea to IT, their structure and function should be directly linked to a company’s mission and aligned to correspond with meaningful business drivers.

In sharing the responsibility for greater purpose with IT, the culture of growth expands, encourages smart innovation, and reinforces the need for full transparency across all departments, all of which are working together toward the same shared enterprise goals.

Deploying IT everywhere, or integrating IT into every department, has the potential to expose great losses and inefficiencies in processes, tools or methods as employees work in unison to achieve a common company goal. For example, a recent survey from Samanage shows that workers spend an average of 520 hours a year -- more than a full day’s work each week -- on mundane tasks that could be easily automated, such as, password reset requests, travel booking and expense reports, scheduling, and spreadsheet or presentation formatting, to name a few. Based on the average national hourly wage of $25.39 this translates to businesses losing $13,202.80 a year, per employee, on unproductive tasks. With a U.S. labor force of more than $140 million this totals a collective loss of $1.8 trillion annually. With IT integrated into other departments, there is a common watchdog dedicated to improving and making work life better for the entire organization.

Integrating IT across all departments not only changes the culture of IT, from the department of ‘no’ or a cost center, it curbs spending and loss of productivity, while also labeling IT as a strategic asset, boosting morale and promoting inclusivity among teams.

As culture continues to change the way enterprise organizations function, it’s never been more important for IT to align strategy and organize output that complements cultural values. From hiring, to communicating, to integrating IT around the company’s objectives, enterprises who implement a cultural-centric strategy will be well positioned to realize greater value in IT as a service center, rather than a cost center.

Photo credit: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

Doron is a successful entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Samanage. Prior to founding Samanage, Doron was a Co-Founder and VP of Sales and Marketing at Continuity Software, a leading provider of disaster recovery and high availability management solutions. Earlier, Doron was a senior manager at BMC Software, a global leader in IT management software. He was also the Founder and CEO at Always-On Software, an innovative application service provider. Previously, Doron held various technical and sales roles at Crystal Systems and IDF/Mamram. Doron holds a B.Sc from Mercy College and an M.B.A. from Touro University.