Attend expos, shows, conferences or briefings and you will note one major thing, (well other than a massive imbalance in gender and diversity but that is another topic for another day) and that is that nearly all the attendees are from the technical arena. You could argue that it is as expected, ok, but there are two distinct areas in the world of technology.
The first is the well-established world of the techies. Understanding the details of the new tech, how you get from A to B, new features, migration paths and so on. The second is, in general, a far less engaged audience, however this is an audience that needs to become an integral part of the world of technology. It is the business, from leadership through to the wider employees.
One common theme is that the business is traditionally informed by internal IT of the new technology coming and what it will, or can, do. Let's explore.
This one is massively overlooked. The business will nearly always know where the challenges exist and business leaders should be aware of these issues. As technology moves on, what we tend to see is technical teams, CTO & CIOs etc. informing the business of the next technology that is to be rolled out. This is a very one way relationship. Now tie this picture up to the first paragraph, and the point that nearly all the attendees at any technical expo etc. are from the established technical parts of the business. What you end up with is business leadership who don't really understand how technology is moving on, where it is going, what can be achieved today and what sort of technical developments are coming or what the 'art of the possible' might look like. Organisations need to take the time to openly talk about the way technology is changing, help the wider business understand what can be done, and getting creative juices going. Representatives from the business should be attending technology expos, shows, conferences, with their IT counterparts. By doing this the business will start to understand what technology can do for them and how it is changing, and once that happens, the then the tide will shift to a more collaborative and informed approach to technology. In turn, that starts a process in which the technology and business teams work more closely together, have a better understanding of each other's roles and goals, and together can work towards a more productive and efficient environment.
Let's be clear, it is only right that the technology team define the technology strategy, however, technology strategies are often defined by statements like 'moving to the cloud' or something like that. Very generic, and very technical in its underlying direction. There need to be two clear strategic channels, the technical channel and the user experience/ productivity channel. The technical channel is the technical channel of developments and upgrades that is so familiar.
The productivity piece needs to focus on the problem solving, what challenges do we have and what are we trying to solve, and what do we need in order to make life better? Take Microsoft Viva for example.. From the technical angle, you might say that we are going to deploy Microsoft Viva, and that it will help improve corporate communications or knowledge sharing. That's all great, but what exactly are you going to do with it? What are you trying to solve? Do you have challenges with people finding the right information, or onboarding new starters? Typically what happens is that the new product will get deployed, people will be trained, and the tooling will be left to organically develop in to something, either desired or possibly undesired. By engaging the business in at the very early days and taking time to showcase the potential technologies, light the fires of 'oh I could use that for...' Is far more effective, even if many ideas come to nothing, you will start to spark the imagination of those line of business owners. Each technology they see will mean different things to each of person. Spark those fires, build that desire and the business cases will develop themselves.
We need to see a change in the way technology is treated within business, it needs to be much more of a collaborative process. Those working in the technical arena should not be looking at the business and thinking 'they don't understand'. They should using their position of technical leadership to open their world of possibilities to the business, helping them understand what could be, and working together to create a cohesive strategy in which the new technologies are desired and even craved.
Any change in attitude towards technology comes from the top. It can only help when an organisation educates its workforce about what technology can do to help. If you get resistance to new technology and comments like 'not more technology' then you are missing a trick.
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