Business Dissatisfaction with “Them”

The data centers housing these job-threatening systems grew larger and larger. As the data centers grew, so did IT; and when it did, so did the bills. When IT organizations first came to be, the blank check that businesses handed them was a pittance compared to overall corporate budgets. The elimination of the manual processes replaced by computer automation was well worth the investment.

The problem was that IT and the business seldom looked beyond the initial investment. Few understood or even contemplated the ongoing and long-term cost of all of the marvelous technology. As the data centers and the IT organizations that supported them grew, so did the costs. What was once a pittance gradually became substantial capital investments and considerable expense. The now enormous cost of information technology squelched business leadership's years-long idolization of IT. When the infatuation ended, the autonomy IT once enjoyed also came to an end. Business leaders began questioning the cost of computer technology investments, and the “us and them” relationship was in full bloom.