'Sup Chumps and Why IT Sucks Mon 19 Feb 07

Last Monday on CIO.com Chris Koch wrote Why IT Sucks an article about why people (including IT folks) love to hate IT.  However, this wasn't the standard fare with a listing of all the problems with IT and how we are our own worst enemy.  Although much is this criticism is well deserved, Koch suggests that it also has to do with hierarchy and power (control of information) plus ingrained perception.

Along with all the negative aspects of IT there is a lot of things that IT has done well.  Technology has become an integral part of our life from ebay, to online banking, to the Internet, and to more access to information than was ever thought possible only a few years ago.  And yet the perception of arrogance and aloofness persists to the point that it is a cultural icon.  Staples, the office supply company recently ran a TV commercial that typifies the perception of IT.  The tech support guy walks in to the office greets everyone dismissively with a " 'Sup chumps" starts playing games on the PC and when asked for help simply responds that he is on his break.  One office worker asks another "I thought we got rid of him" only to receive the response "We wanted to, but he's the only one that knows how to fix our computers".  Staples spent millions on running this commercial knowing that everyone could identify with the situation even though in reality very few of us really have to face an IT department like that. 

The perception has become the reality.  So just changing the way we operate isn't enough.  We also have to change the perception.  So how just how do we go about changing perceptions.

Part of changing perception is to change the underlying reality.  The comment I left on Koch's article is:

There is no question that IT is suffering from the "devil effect" and based upon our past actions perhaps deservedly so. To quote the famous Pogo comic strip, "We have met the enemy and he is us." The snide attitudes and arrogant personalities, talking in jargon, failed programs, poor customer service, disinterest in the business etc. etc. all contributed to this. This is a tough history to overcome. The good news is this is fixable and I believe is slowly changing.

The key to changing perception is to perform in a manner that our customers want (friendly service, quick fixing of problems, easy to use systems, reliable systems etc.) and to do it on a consistent basis. All the praise and kudos for delivery an excellent system are quickly replaced by a poor Help Desk response. One good deed alone is not enough. Both the devil and halo effect have a certain inertia that we have to overcome. With no new consistent performance to the contrary we tend to perceive IT has we always have. This is true whether IT had the devil effect or the halo effect going for it. The way people perceive us is developed over time based on the instilled impact of our repeated actions. Make those actions favorable and we will get that halo effect.

While I stand by my comment, after further thought I now believe I didn't go far enough.  Koch talked about the "halo effect" and its effect on perception.  He suggested that we utilize that to improve our situation.  To illustrate his point he made a radical suggestion -- drop the CFO from the quarterly analyst calls and instead have the CIO participate.  He has a point.  The CFO's focus is all about the past as he recites the financial performance in his best imitation of Ben Stein's monotone.  With the CIO there the focus could shift to change initiatives and the future, something the analysts are more concerned about.

However, we all know CIOs participating in the quarterly analysts call isn't going to happen.  Or perhaps I should say it won't happen anytime soon.  That is simply too big a change in perception to be accepted quickly.  So what can we do?

In addition to consistent high performance as I suggested in my comment above we can start creating our halo effect by associating ourselves with successful initiatives within the company.  This doesn't mean taking credit for new ideas or corporate successes.  Instead we need to become a true partner with customers.  We need to be part of the "team" that creates these successes.  This means being involved at the beginning of a project and also at the end, not just for the portions than involve IT systems.  Consistent high performance along with being part of the "team" are the best way to earn our halo.  Who knows you might just be participating in the quarterly analyst call sooner than you think.

[Update: Removed the word not in the second paragraph from "not a cultural icon" where it was incorrectly used.]

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

• Let's Not Bring IT into this
• Creating Customer Loyalty
• Why It's Time to Lose the Snide IT Attitude
• The Marketing of IT
• Or the posts in the "Customer Service" category