What do other BUs need to know about IT's evolving role in the business?


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VP - Head of Information Technology in Software, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
If I had to distill the paradigm that stakeholders need to understand for the era we live in now, it's that IT is not the construction contractor that you ask to build you a bathroom — you can’t tell us, “I don't want to see anything until it's done." Think of IT like a personal trainer: you want rock hard abs and they can help you get them, but you will have to do some work. The stakeholders can't be out of the mix anymore.

I've been in IT for 23 years and I remember when we just asked for the requirements. It was never a great approach, but it sort of worked. These days, there's no way we can use that same approach. When you're trying to align business processes with systems configuration and data quality, as well as map how all of it will play out, the stakeholders have to be in the room. They can't be absent anymore and they have to test frequently. Then it's not just me telling the story anymore, the stakeholder is telling the story. I've experienced great success with that at MuleSoft, where we didn't market IT at all, the stakeholders did. They’d say, "Oh my God, they saved us," or, "IT did this thing and it was amazing." It was awesome. 
VP, Chief Security & Compliance Officer in Software, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
We’re seeing threat actors get smarter. They've figured out how to position the ransomware: they know that there's an enterprise risk methodology and that's why they set these ransom dollar amounts just below the threshold. We're getting to a place where we need our leadership to actually understand this, because insurers are not carrying the coverage they used to provide. They're dropping ransomware and malware coverage, so if we're going to carry a residual risk, we have to understand what we're carrying. And that means it’s going to be a little technical.
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Senior Director, Defense Programs in Software, 5,001 - 10,000 employees
It depends if IT is growing when evolving or becoming an undifferentiated support service to the business… so that’s what other BUs need to know.
Director of Tech and Cyber Strategy in Finance (non-banking), 1,001 - 5,000 employees
In a modern organization the IT paradigm is changing where business needs to embed some IT expertise in the BU themselves and partner with Platform IT teams where a shared service is required across multiple parts of the business.

While there are still remnants of business that can operate with little-to-no understanding to technology, in general, business, even as consumer of technology, needs to better understand what various IT technologies can do as well the cost(s) involved.

IT teams, in concert, needs to shift towards becoming internal service organization model, with platforms that help enable business, whether that means developing the capability internally, orchestrating third-party tools, or doing a combination of the two. This not only means knowing what you can do successfully but also knowing where there are limits and this expertise needs to be embedded inside the business rather than standing on its own.

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Operation40%

Customer Interaction19%

Compliance14%

Risk and Fraud Management5%

Strategic Planning3%

Finance/Accounting3%

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CTO in Software, 201 - 500 employees
Without a doubt - Technical Debt! It's a ball and chain that creates an ever increasing drag on any organization, stifles innovation, and prevents transformation.
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