Information Technology Professionals in the Decision Making Process

Information technology is a vital part of any business. Although some companies are not able to have an IT staff, computers and or server are still used in day-to-day business processes. There was a time when a companies it department consisted of desktop support staff and a manager. Decisions were made by upper management and no one from the IT department was ever-present. After all who needs anyone from the IT department when it comes to making business decisions? Your company does.

The information technology professionals can help management in the decision-making processes when it comes to enhancing business processes. To compete in today's economy you need an edge and technology implementations will give your company the needed edge to compete. IT manager who are present can help stake holders in the company's success by recommending the right technologies to reach goals. When IT is excluded or becomes a second thought when it comes to technology implementations, it could prove costly in the near future.

It's always bad business when companies never take the time to do it right the first time and they always have the time to do it over, because they simply must to survive.

Employee Training

Companies who don't see the value in training their employees to use new systems implemented will greatly increase their cost of ownership of the implementation. How is this? Employees, who are not familiar with the proper use of a newly implemented system, will report wrong problems. These are not system problems, but a misunderstanding of how a process works. When the company is spending money to have support technicians troubleshoot a user's inefficiency in using the system and not a real technical problem, you waste unnecessary dollars. Training your employees will make sure your business processes run efficiently and real system problems can be reported and fixed.

Training your IT staff will also aid your company in stabilizing or lowering your cost of ownership. When your IT staff is knowledgeable on hoe your system work, they can effectively troubleshoot and separate user problems from system problems. The worst thing a company can do is leave their new implementation in the hands of all employees to figure it out. Information technology encompasses a range of technologies or systems, this makes training essential.

IT Managers

IT managers have a definite place in board and conference rooms of the companies in which they are employed. When decisions are made by managers with little to no technical background, implemented technologies could impact a company's business process and drive your customer base to the front door of your competition.

IT managers should be required to attend business meetings and their knowledge and ability should be tapped in the decision making processes of the company. Failing to do so will cost the company in failed implementations or the purchase of the wrong technologies for the company's business processes.