Jason Stamper's Blog

Thanks for striking a blow for common sense with your article "Why IT still matters". Early on, you ask the pertinent question:

"But is becoming a commodity the same as no longer mattering, of no longer holding any importance?"

My immediate reaction was, "Well, maybe this will supply a clue: food is a commodity. So is water".

True, commodities do not matter (much) to business whizz-kids who are in search of quick easy profits. Tesco is a huge company that mostly sells commodities, and look at its margins!

It seems a recurring theme in life the factions appear time and again who want to create a debate and argument where none exists,

Sure the world is getting more and more connected, things are moving faster and faster, yes this brings with it a set of challenges and drain on people's time as the deluge of information, garbage and distraction continues to rise.

IT matters but knowledge, insight, the ability to save time, do more with less matters more, IT enables these goals to be achieved to be possible when and where people need them.

The dream of better decisions made on a near real-time data availability where ever you are whether this is where to get a meal, your hair cut or to change the policy on pricing for a specific product line or take decisive action to prevent disaster all really on access, security, availability and above all the ability to see the wood for the trees.

The challenge we all face whether you are from Harvard pondering big questions or trying to make a living is how to filter, categories and prioritise this deluge into meaningful chunks that are relevant to the context you are in at any given moment in time. Now perhaps the academics can apply themselves to that or leave it up to the rest of us to solve that challenge.

Well done as usual Jason

I don't think we have even begun to scratch the surface in realising IT's potential for business. Companies chasing quarterly profit margin improvements still tend to look for cheaper labour, sack people, outsource and raise prices - all things mainly to do with reducing labour costs or 'passing on' costs to customers. These are not innovative tactics and they often lead to poor customer service and long term brand decay. The holy grail for IT still remains its potential to help generate new sources of revenue. Ironically enough, with all the business intelligence tools out there, many executives still rely on instinct to make decisions in this fast moving world. When business people at all levels start really being able to use these tools to make the best use of their resources and unlock business opportunities, then IT will really take centre stage. With the new breed of 'self service' BI tools starting to take off, I think this day could be coming soon.

I couldn’t agree more that IT plays an increasingly important role in any organisation, and that in this period of fiscal tightness CIOs are looking for ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Sarah Lafferty’s comment raised a number of reasons why businesses should investigate and shop around for tools that will achieve this, and in that vein I would suggest that the right combination of end user “self-service” tools, help desk management products and user support solutions can make a big difference in increasing productivity throughout the organisation and reducing operating costs. They can also allow an IT team to function more effectively with a higher percentage of junior staff, which is a vital consideration when skilled IT staff are in short supply and competition is forcing up salaries.