IT is People

Makovsky

This may come as a surprise to many people, especially since technology tends to either be taken for granted or be the focal point of their frustrations.

Information Technology is people.

It’s not the network of wires, switches, servers, firewalls, the routers, hubs, or any other hardware and software we use directly. Neither is IT the artificial intelligence for work flow automation, or all the specialized cloud computing and software as a service support and functionality that exists in and alongside our company solutions. All of that is just part of the infrastructure and tools in a system for storing, retrieving, and sending information. Boring.

What has recently become exciting about IT, as a field is that it’s completely about the people the whole system is designed for. As an industry, it has developed into a landscape with a skyline of advanced technological towers providing solutions for every other industry, including IT solutions for IT. Ultimately, all of that leads to supporting the end users, the people that make things, design things, buy things and sell things, market and support things, and teach and learn things. It’s for students, and teachers, CEO’s and office custodians, and the IT managers as well.

In fact, IT is now beginning to take on more of a role in deciding the direction a company is headed. The “IT manager” must be innovative in finding ways to maintain the infrastructure that acts as a utility for employees, while making employee’s lives simpler and more productive at the office. The strategic role that IT plays is based on the needs of the people the infrastructure supports, and the business the employees need to succeed at.

More than ever, IT managers, CTO’s, and CIO’s, need to recognize their changing roles, and supporting people is their business. Trying to design an infrastructure that eliminates the need for people is less conducive to a productive and successful business than designing an infrastructure that enhances the capabilities of employees to be successful. Recognizing the humanity that exists within our Information Technology infrastructure is the first step in keeping up with the latest trend in being successful.