How to give IT an image makeover
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
CIOs are often still peppered with complaints that their departments are not adequately supporting the business, says Kenneth Rau, senior consultant with Cutter Consortium, Arlington, Mass. Those perceptions could change if IT managers start imitating politicians—that is, learning to tell their success stories in quick sound bites.
Rau recommends developing three-point pitches containing the following elements:
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A description of a discovered need or situation
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The agreed-upon objectives and deliverables
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Actions taken and the results achieved
Everyone in the IT department should be able to tell these stories, says Rau, while admitting the most common reaction from IT professionals to his proposal is, "You've got to be kidding." Still, he believes publicizing IT's successes as a way of earning that deserved respect "is a concept worth considering."
