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IT experts say managers need to bridge the geek-speak gap
No one ever listens. But they keep coming — coming with half-baked questions, impossible demands and evil-stepmother scowls.
By Erika D. Smith
Knight Ridder News Service The Salt Lake Tribune
At least that’s what many corporate information technology specialists say.
IT specialists say they get little to no respect from employees or managers at their companies. They are ignored for board-level budget meetings, an afterthought in business strategy sessions, and are forgotten by reckless staffers — that is, until something goes wrong.
The bottom line is, businesses must change the way they think about IT by strengthening the lines of communication, said Peter Parsons, a writer for TechRepublic.com, an industry Web site.
"Too many companies decide that their operations must be computerized, but then fail to pair this decision with one that demands IT support be allocated its fair share of resources and be integrated with overall business strategy," Parsons said from his home in Ottawa, Ontario. They have to think of IT as an equal and legitimate business department — and treat it that way.
One of the biggest dilemmas managers and IT specialists face is a communication gap. Parsons, who runs the IT consulting firm Neandertech Ltd., admits IT employees are partly to blame because their departments "are often thought of as virtual fief- doms, where only the brave [or stupid] tread."
Scary or not, managers must make an effort to talk to their IT employees, he said.
But talking won’t do any good if managers don’t ask the right questions, said Gary Amos, president of Amos Data Systems in Akron, Ohio. Managers need to ask "how is technology going to help our business?" Amos said.
When it comes to discussing complex, technical issues with managers or employees, clarity can be a major problem.
"It’s easy to drop into geek speak," said Kevin Campbell, an account executive for Area 51 Consulting in Akron. "You guys are always talking in four-letter acronyms. What does that mean?"
With employees, that confusion often leads to frustration — on both sides. "People say, ‘My computer doesn’t work.’ That could mean anything," Campbell said.
But not everyone in the corporate environment is so ignorant about computers. Some employees think they know more than the IT staff and manipulate their workstations with arrogance. They download programs that can interfere with the network, regardless of IT’s orders.
Others simply don’t pay attention. They open potentially hazardous e-mail attachments and delete program icons.
It is a classic PEBKAC issue. (That’s Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.) About 90 percent of the glitches IT departments face originate at employee workstations, Amos said. That includes viruses.
In Parsons’ opinion, the way to avoid such problems is to be strict with employees from the start. And managers must back that play.
"If you are at work, then use your computer for work, not as if it were your machine," he said.
