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Is It You Or Your IT System That’s Running Your Business?
June 22, 2010 Articles

Prior to IT systems being in place, people involved in businesses were often heard complaining that the company seemed to exist for the benefit of the administration section and indeed, that that the admin section seemed to run the country. However, nowadays that complaint has been updated, now there can be a feeling that a company is being run by the IT systems that are in place and that everything has to be done to satisfy the IT systems and to hell with what you, as the management want or need!

IT Systems In Context

The difficulty with IT systems are that their status can be elevated beyond what is reasonable. In effect the IT systems need to support the business that is carried out on a day to day basis, the IT system does not produce and therefore is not irreplaceable. If the IT system does not support the business in an efficient manner, then it should be replaced and better, more flexible IT systems should be installed instead.

Too Much Control Is Dangerous!

Awarding any IT system too much control is not a positive move, because the more power and control that is invested in the IT systems, the less flexibility is available to management. That is not to say that IT systems are not important, certainly the data that they can provide and the way in which they can analyse data that would take humans months to analyse is certainly very useful. However, the IT systems must allow the actual production of goods or the running of the business, they must not inhibit it.

Creating A Balance

The trick really is to use IT systems that allow a good level of flexibility, so that if there are changes to be made to how things are done and how the business is run, then IT systems can accommodate this.

IT systems have a real advantage over the human brain and that is in the way that they can present and analyse data in a completely objective way. There is no ‘skewing’ of facts, there are no hidden statistics, or statistics that are presented in a different way because it suits the person doing the analysis to present them in this way.
So IT systems can simply present information in very clear, objective and impartial forms, that allow decision makers to be equipped with the information that they require in order to make impartial and sound judgements.

IT Systems Save Money

The main benefits of a good IT system is that it will save money ultimately, because it will support the business in such a way that production outputs or outcomes will be more positive and as such there will be greater revenue and less staff time required to hit production targets! So there are some benefits to be had from IT systems.

Competitors and IT Systems

If you are still operating using IT systems that are not flexible enough for your needs, then there is little excuse for doing so, especially if you think about your competitors. They will be using IT systems that meet their needs and by doing so, they will have the edge over you in terms of competitiveness.

So if you do feel as if your IT systems are running your business, instead of you having the pleasure of doing this, there really is only one course of action open to you; ditch your current IT systems. Then all you need to do is take the time and trouble to sort out IT systems that will work for you and support you and your business- not the other way around!

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