Wrong side of the bed (or business)...

Technology vendors aren't seeing what is happening in industry. They continue to try to pigeonhole employees of organizations into buckets of "Business User" and "IT" and I'm not buying it. It's a new world out here in the workforce and I'm starting to get insulted that these vendors aren't seeing the light.

It my inbox this morning I found some spam from a rather large technology vendor who is "happy to provide me with these content-rich white papers", but take a look at how they categorized them:



To traditionalists like these vendors, I'd be considered an IT person, mostly because I'm a DataGeek and manage a group of DataGeeks and do mostly DataGeek stuff.

But guess what...

  • I live in an "Uncontrollable World", wouldn't I want to use BI to assist in managing my business? BTW: Data is my business and business is good!
  • I'd certainly love to figure out how to grow my company and make it more efficient!
  • I managed a budget and have to juggle dollars around when it makes sense, I'd love to read some suggestions on how to do this!
  • I also manage a group of people, wouldn't I want to read about "Growing Talent"?
  • Managing Personal Devices in the Enterprise, interestingly enough this is the LEAST INTERESTING white paper to read for me, the "IT" guy.
  • My team is responsible for the day to day operations of my shop's data, of course I care about performance!
  • My company is all about uncertain times, can I please read this one too?
  • I spend about half my time "Selling and Marketing" my business (data).

    I think perhaps I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (or business) this morning and this email caught me off guard, but for some reason it really struck me as time to stand up and say "enough is enough". So...



    Dear Technology Vendor,

    Please wake up and smell the coffee! People in the "real world" are now required to do all kinds of things and play many roles and I'm tired of you telling us we're only supposed to be performing only one role. The reality is that the workforce has changed, "Business Users" are now kick-butt users of their "IT" systems and "IT" folks manage budgets/staff and are more closely tied to the bottom line of organizations balance sheets.

    Get over it and help make everyone better "Business Users" and "Technologists".

    Signed,

    Wrong side of the bed (or business)




    Until next time...Rich
  • Comments

    Anonymous said…
    I agree.

    'IT' and 'the business' - we really need to move away from this outdated and divisive way of thinking.
    Murnane said…
    Thanks for the comment Michael, I'll be sure to take a peek at your blog today! http://michaelbaylon.wordpress.com

    Best...Rich
    Anonymous said…
    Rich,

    Excellent post and echoes many of my sentiments.

    Whilst many of us are happily able to operate on either side of this imaginary divide, and indeed enjoy doing so, there are many for whom this division allows them to stay in their comfort zone:
    * "I'm in IT, don't confuse me with that finance stuff"
    * "I'm in sales, I haven't time to figure out the systems"

    I guess we should all challenge those that we hear perpetuating this imaginary division (such as this excellent blog post) and maybe, in time, it will cease to exist.

    Julian
    Sheezaredhead said…
    Right on Rich! We talk all the time about how we have to stop using us vs them and business vs IT language within our organizations, so why don't the vendors get that too?