Can the IT disrupt itself?
Recent years have shown us that disruption comes without warning and changes the way we enjoy the evolving new digital world. For the vast majority of companies disruption is an external force that may take them out of business or coerce them to make extreme changes not in their terms. Some companies are aware of the new technologies that may disrupt them and the market, but as the change and decision is too painful they opt to wait it out. The prime example is Kodak who invented and patented the digital camera and even so went bankrupt because they couldn’t disrupt themselves. Amazon, Uber, AirBnB and Netflix are another examples for external disruptors who changed their market forever.
All of the above is true to the consumer market.
Is it possible to disrupt the enterprises of the world? Those very large companies who sell their software products and services to other large companies.
It is possible, but less likely. One of the reasons for this is the IT departments of these enterprises and the way they operate. IT are usually slower to adopt the newest technologies as soon as they’re out, and inhibit other divisions in the company through processes, bureaucracy, regulation, and information security from accessing and using them as well. This creates a viscous cycle as the more processes and bureaucracy the more other divisions will develop their own shadow IT, and this will force the formal IT to create new governance models to impose its processes and so on.
How can this cycle be broken if the IT is the gatekeeper for new technologies? And, can the IT disrupt itself to create and enable new disruptive technologies to the organization?
I think that it’s a complex issue. Most of the new disruptive technologies will force the IT to change its structure, role and workforce. Two examples of such ‘disruptive’ technologies that their adoption is hindered by the IT are cloud and DevOps. When stating cloud, I refer especially to PaaS and SaaS, that relinquishes the IT’s historic role of installing and maintaining servers. DevOps, and mainly NoOps, gives rise to the new role of the developers who can now develop, deploy and maintain their code and systems without assistance from any other function in the IT.
The IT’s ability to ‘intimidate and scare’ executives of the dangers of deploying new technologies may be part of its self-preservation mechanism. But this mechanism is obsolete and will not be able to fend off progress and innovation in the current accelerated economy.
Executives and leaders should ask themselves if the IT can cut its own branch and enable the introduction of disruptive technologies into the enterprise. If the answer is no then there is the possibility to act as the market behaves, and introduce an external disruptor. One example for such an external disruptor can materialize ‘unexpectedly’ to the IT when the other business units will implement automations (as mentioned above) that will act as a transformative tsunami on it. Another option can be as Gartner mentioned where IT departments should operate in a bimodal way. Maybe mode 1 and mode 2 can be two separate and competing organizations, and not work as a single IT.
In today’s dynamic, accelerating and highly competitive market enterprises are required to be able to adjust quickly and allow innovation and disruption to enter. Acceleration and agility do not come through processes and bureaucracy. It is a common misconception that Darwin said the “survival of the fittest” — he actually said “the survival of the ones capable to adapt”.
The IT and its leadership should embrace an adaptive capacity approach to enable their organization to better evolve in the changing environment. They should even do it if it means major changes such as shifts in their structure, roles, and responsibilities. Failing to adopt a disruptive culture may be the cause of the IT’s downfall, and can affect the company’s position in the marketplace.
