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June 4, 2001 (Computerworld) -- Just a few years ago, many business executives were throwing money at Internet projects like they'd just gotten religion from a TV evangelist. In these leaner, more prudent times, however, IT managers almost always have to convince top brass of the need to fund particular IT projects.
IT managers' communication skills are truly put to the test when they have to verbalize their visions to CEOs, board members and other higher- ups. "It's very easy for technologists to get enamored with the technology itself, to get into the space of 'Isn't that cool?' " says Scott Thompson, chief technology officer at Foster City, Calif.-based Visa U.S.A. Inc.
But that's a big mistake, he says. Instead, IT leaders should learn to speak the universal language of business.
"Before we invest in anything of significance, we've always had to put together a very extensive business case," says Thompson. "Not only for senior managers, but for board members and all the member banks as well. That all sounds really simple - that's something we all learn in college and business school - but it's very easy to take your eye off that mark."
Successful communication at the board level includes the ability to tell a story in clear, nontechnical terms. It also requires a good understanding of the business needs of the company or organization.
For example, Thompson is in the midst of a strategic project called Visa Direct Exchange, which is intended to move the company's transaction processing activities to the Internet.
"Putting together the business case was just as difficult as putting together the high-level architecture," he says. It required close cooperation between the technical and financial teams, as well as hundreds of representatives from Visa's member institutions. In this case, project approval required buy-in from about 50 executives at Visa and at member banks, says Thompson.
Building a business case requires more than just whipping up a spreadsheet, warns Thornton May, corporate futurist and chief awareness officer at Waltham, Mass.-based security and privacy consultancy Guardent Inc. and a Computerworld columnist. It also means having an ongoing conversation with board members and senior executives about what's important to the company, where it's going and how technology can help it get there.
"Being part of senior management is like being a sought-for guest at a cocktail party," he says. "You have to be a good business conversationalist."
Charles Emery, CIO at Newark-based Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey, polished his communication skills over 30 years of teaching management and IT classes, most recently at Dowling College in Oakdale, N.Y. The most important thing Emery says he learned is to know your audience.

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