Get innovators out of the IT department, says DWP's CTO

Computing staff, Computing, Monday 28 June 2010 at 17:25:00

Key staff should be placed where they can advance a core business line

Businesses will struggle to be innovative if all their forward-looking people
are stuck in the IT department, said the DWP?s chief technology officer James
Gardner in his
blog
last week.

He argues that these people will be looking to enable better IT through
innovation, but that enablement of a support function (IT) will see far less
return on investment than the enablement of a core business line which uses IT.

?Sooner or later, investment in the IT department's innovation team will look
less attractive than other available opportunities,? he said.

Gardner gives eight other barriers to innovation:

? Where there is no money ? companies that do not spend money rarely achieve
very much innovation.

? The company boss is a laggard and does not like new things.

? Everything is controlled by the finance director ? most interesting things
do not pay off in the short term.

? The organisation is laser focused on the core business, meaning innovation
would be considered a distraction ? ?Retreat to the core is a classic strategy
of an organisation that is disconnecting itself from change, for whatever
reason,? he says.

? The company is riding high on established product and service lines and
innovation is not seen as necessary.

? Audit and governance functions are overpowerful ? if your organisation is
full of security people, audit people and governance people with the power to
call the shots, you should consider whether to bother with innovation.

? The organisation needs to have recovered from a near-death experience,
meaning there is an entrenched belief among management in the power of change.

? Finally, if your CEO is risk averse ? s/he will require so much reassurance
as to the value of any "go" decision that time is wasted and will put the team
off persuading them.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2265610/innovators-business