In the last recession, yes, the one in the 90's, IT was cut and cut savagely. This time around in what looks to be a double-dip recession, IT is being cut far less. A sign, I think, that IT's role has moved from being peripheral to a business's profitability to one where it is core to a business and a driver of revenue.
Unfortunately, there are many CEOs, owner/managers who still view IT as a necessary evil, a blunt instrument that provides some services that do a basic job. However the days when IT was Email, Office and Printing are long gone. Now not only are people utilising technology to improve their working environment, but they're also using it to underpin and drive their productivity.
This is usually a bottom up process with the board and the CEO being the last to recognise or understand the need for the technology. This lag between the technology required to support the employee and the acknowledgement from the board that investment is required to provide that technology landscape can often be considerable and the result in pain for everyone.
People entering the world of work for the first time will never have experienced a time when the internet didn't exist for them. Their technology and connectivity is an extension of themselves and the idea of not having it is enough to refuse employment. Even for those who've been working for a lot longer will find technology is essential to their working life and not something they can do without.
The point is that CEOs should be less reactive and recognise the need for the right technology in the workplace. It really is no longer the blunt instrument, but more a multi-faceted, sophisticated tool capable of so much, it cannot be ignored.
Unfortunately, there are many CEOs, owner/managers who still view IT as a necessary evil, a blunt instrument that provides some services that do a basic job. However the days when IT was Email, Office and Printing are long gone. Now not only are people utilising technology to improve their working environment, but they're also using it to underpin and drive their productivity.
This is usually a bottom up process with the board and the CEO being the last to recognise or understand the need for the technology. This lag between the technology required to support the employee and the acknowledgement from the board that investment is required to provide that technology landscape can often be considerable and the result in pain for everyone.
People entering the world of work for the first time will never have experienced a time when the internet didn't exist for them. Their technology and connectivity is an extension of themselves and the idea of not having it is enough to refuse employment. Even for those who've been working for a lot longer will find technology is essential to their working life and not something they can do without.
The point is that CEOs should be less reactive and recognise the need for the right technology in the workplace. It really is no longer the blunt instrument, but more a multi-faceted, sophisticated tool capable of so much, it cannot be ignored.
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