Industry experts are always banging on about how IT professionals should learn to understand their business as a whole, and not just the technology side of things. Easier said than done. IT leaders should change the way they communicate to their teams in order to help members develop business acumen.
The reason why IT professionals should understand how business works is because it will make it easier to communicate the importance of IT in their organisations. Gartner estimates by 2020, all IT roles will require an intermediate level of proficiency in business acumen. According to Gartner research vice-president Lily Mok:
“Developing strong business acumen in IT is a prerequisite to effectively shift IT focus from optimising IT operational efficiency to driving business effectiveness, value creation and growth.”
In order to do this, she said IT leaders should use a communication style that links the vision of the company with the action plan of the IT department.
“At the heart of an effective IT communication strategy is the ability to clearly link the vision, strategy and action plans of IT to the business to drive desired behaviours in the workforce that contribute to improved IT performance and business outcomes.”
[Via Smarter With Gartner]
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