Premier 100: IT can pave the way for business agility, panelists say

Their advice: Listen to users and make them an integral part of the process

By Todd R. Weiss

March 7, 2006 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Bringing in new technology ideas -- and sharing those ideas early on with users so they can weigh in with what they need, want and expect from an IT project -- is key to delivering a successful IT deployment.

That was the message today from a panel discussion on “Delivering Business Agility Through IT,” which was presented here as part of the Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders conference.

“We’re viewing IT as part of the business team as opposed to someone coming in and just doing something with technology,” said panelist John Fisher, president and founder of Mount Prospect, Ill.-based consultancy Rethinking IT. “This integrates the IT process” and helps the IT department make a business more agile because the process is made seamless, he said.

Fisher was once the CIO of association management company SmithBucklin Corp. in Chicago.

Another panelist, Farzad Golshani, vice president of IT infrastructure at Transamerica Retirement Services, a division of Transamerica Corp. in Los Angeles, said that leading an agile business today means that IT departments have to use a “fix-it button” mentality and quickly respond to users. “IT needs to initiate more often” by taking on IT projects that will help users do their jobs better and faster, he said. “I think managing their expectations is also key.”


Farzad Golshani, vice president of IT infrastructure at Transamerica Retirement Services Image Credit: Asa Mathat

Nida Davis, assistant vice president and chief architect in the enterprise architecture division of the Federal Reserve's IT department in Richmond, Va., said her office helps deliver business agility by taking time to discuss IT needs directly with users. It helps to “talk about what’s out there and how it can help users,” she said.

Mitch Hansen, vice president of enterprise systems and services at Quest Diagnostics Inc., a Lyndhurst, N.J.-based medical testing company, said his IT teams are trying to become more user-friendly and are seeking to become “champions of the organization” who can provide the tools workers need to be efficient and productive.

“It’s a long march,” Hansen said, noting that his company is committed to the effort.

Another important step, said Fisher, is to force hesitant users to offer feedback so that they play a role in any IT deployment. That way, “they can help make it what they wanted” in the first place, rather than having to deal with a final product later that doesn’t meet their needs.

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