Page 37 - Flathead Beacon // 5.27.2015

FLATHEADBEACON.COM BUSINESS MONTHLY
MAY 27, 2015 | 37
BUSINESS IS PERSONAL Mark Riffey
A Forecast of Shadows
WARNING: I’M ABOUT TO discuss some technology things (yes, again), with good reason: Information Technology (IT) is a leading indicator with parallels in ev- ery business niche, including yours.
This isn’t about IT. It’s about every- thing.
CONTROL
Historically, a company’s staff has had a love/hate relationship with IT. IT’s all powerful control was easy in the mainframe days. No department could afford to get their own, much less the staff to manage it and the space to house it.
Once IT grudgingly accepted the PC, things moved along calmly for a couple of decades. We’ve now circled back to the point where IT has once again become an obstacle in many companies.
Enter Shadow IT.
WHAT IS SHADOW IT?
Shadow IT is departmental IT re- sources purchased to achieve a result faster, cheaper and better than the re- sult a department is getting from their company’s centralized IT staff – wheth- er that’s one person or 1000.
Consider who has the budget and who benefits from Shadow IT’s ROI.
Somewhere in the market where tech people are trying to close a sale, there’s a hungry group of owners who would love nothing better than to take over thanks in part to the advantages provided by tools that don’t depend on the status quo and/or lobbyist-funded legislation dat- ing back to Eisenhower.
SEEK THOSE WHO WANT TO CHANGE
In many companies, IT’s primary re- sponsibility is to make sure nothing ever changes. Not in all companies, mind you, but certainly in the misguided ones.
The act of not doing anything in a misguided company is mind bogglingly simple. That’s why startups keep going after entrenched niches where a rarefied few are doing something other than clinging to what they always did and how they did it – that is, the companies whose primary R&D budget might be smaller than their political contribution budget.
The startup crowd targets and finds ways to disrupt and displace these busi- nesses. They do so by seeking out those who WANT to change. Those who don’t look to improve are left behind to fend for themselves - which seems to be what they want, until it’s too late.
Let me clarify the “make sure noth- ing ever changes” comment. It’s OK to take incremental, ever-more-feisty steps to make sure nothing ever changes in production or under peak load. It’s an- other thing entirely when those actions morph into “Do nothing. Change noth-
ing. Don’t break anything, in fact, don’t touch or move anything. EVER.”
Not doing anything beyond acting in the interest of self-preservation is politi- cian work, not IT work. It results in...
SHRINKAGE
CEB (formerly the “Corporate Ex- ecutive Board”) reports on global corpo- rate data and trends in that data. A few quotes from a CEB report from last year: • IT budgets projected to shrink 75 per-
cent over the next five years.
• Around 10 percent of CIOs, particular-
ly in large multinational energy, phar- maceutical and consumer companies, already have a cross-departmental role.
• Nearly 80 percent of IT professionals will see multiple changes in their re- sponsibilities, skills needs and objec- tives, as the IT organization adapts to changing business needs over the next five years.
Corporate IT departments will shrink by as much as 75 percent over the next five years as businesses adapt to the cloud and changing economic condi- tions.
The result of this: Cloud computing and Shadow IT, which is often based on cloud computing.
WHO INVESTS IN SHADOW?
Shadow IT investors have budgets. They seek serious ROI. These are not people looking for things to remain as they are. They’re dissatisfied with how things are. They know there are tools that can work faster, smarter, cheaper.
Shadow IT requires risk, offers re- ward, but it doesn’t come without a price. These processes must be robust, well-documented and work because IT doesn’t have the desire much less the resources to research or repair Shadow IT assets and processes. Shadow invest- ments demand full responsibility from their investors.
Shadow IT isn’t the real challenge. I think you’ll see IT and its shadows go round and round as each generation of departmental and personal computing reveals itself.
By now, you’re wondering how this Shadow IT problem could possibly in- volve your small business. Did he trick me into reading this far?
SHADOW EVERYTHING
No, because the thing I’m seeing more and more of is “Shadow Every- thing.”
The ranks of people “dissatisfied with how things are and wanting tools that work faster, smarter, cheaper” isn’t limited to IT.
They’re everywhere and they will invest in Shadow Everything. What will you invest in? And your clients?
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
WELDER/MASTER CRAFTSMAN
Seeking full time (40hrs/week) or part time welder. Plate and or pipe certifications required. 2 positions available.
TINT/VINYL TECHNICIAN
Seeking experienced part time employee in window tint, vinyl application and wrap and vehicle accessories. 1 position available.
POLY FOAM AND/OR BED LINER TECHNICIAN
Seeking experienced part time/full time employee with at least 1 year experience in poly and or elastomer spraying experience. 1 position available.
CONTACT
Dax Cornelius or Jeff McGillivray 406.892.1535 • [email protected]
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