Funny, I originally wrote this in the late 90’s.

Tech-Cuffs

In an economy where we are looking for recovery, during a time when government and business are being re-designed, leaders need to re-evaluate who runs the show and how we can invest in flexible, longer term solutions that can serve up quality content while building new audiences or markets. With so much electronic media washing over us, it’s tough enough to differentiate your agency, business or organization while trying to communicate and build a relationship with your audience.

It’s time to shift the decision making power related to communications and technologies into the hands of those responsible for measurable performance. IT professionals are just that, information technology specialists. They are the folks that should engage creativity and see it as their long term opportunity to serve and survive.

CIO’s, IT and IS professionals are very valuable and without them, creativity and productivity within today’s organizations would be impossible. At the same time, we can’t allow these select members of the IT/IS club to hand-cuff creativity or operations. We must learn from them and their constantly changing knowledge base, but we must also remember that they are here to serve content and not choke it with limitations and fear. They are here to empower all of our work, not straddle our minds while limiting goals.

It’s not our IT and IS professionals fault! We have blamed tech people for everything that has gone wrong, empowered them to protect us, told them little about business plans and overpaid them so they wouldn’t leave. This lack of a healthy, nurturing environment creates a feeling of little stability. These people probably see everyone as a hungry wolf, licking their chops, about to take their job or salary. We need to help these folks free their minds and share our business goals.

For the most part, our technology needs have been met, now we need to take advantage of our bandwidth and provide connectivity and meaningful content everywhere we can. We should take what works and put it directly in the hands of communications professionals, marketers, operations people and content experts, while the IT or IS people work side by side to support them. This is no longer hi-tech; it’s software and hardware.

The strides we have made have been fast and wonderful, yet the concepts are old. Great new technologies will provide clean fuels, long-lasting rechargeable batteries and missile-free defense systems. Improving the Internet today is like making a toaster with wider slots to fit a bagel. As bandwidth needs increase, the market is responding quite well. The great strides of today’s Internet will come from the production of quality content, production and measured results.