I get quite a bit of "off-blog" questions asking me why I hate IT departments so much. The truth is that throughout my career I've always had a love/hate relationship with IT. I certainly recognize their strengths and contributions, but I was always that guy looking to do things that went against their business practices or (my favorite) "common operating environment." It can never be easy to have ME on the other end of a troubleshooting call.
In corporate communications, we're "asked" by our leaders to do things that sometimes don't fall into this common environment and I enjoyed butting heads with them.
And for those looking to install a digital signage network for employee communications, sometimes IT gets their nose out of joint by sticking it in the wrong places. . . uh I mean they intervene to protect the native IT environment. That's it.
Even with our cellular digital signage approach and SaaS-based Broadcast Portal, which both require zero IT support, infrastructure or investment, they still feel they need to be involved.
If it walks like an IT project and talks like an IT project, then it must be an IT project. Right?
Wrong.
But the more you push back in an apparent move of disrespect instead of pure and logical business sense, the worse it's going to get.
If you have a "dedicated" (twitch, twitch) IT professional who is only looking to protect the company's best interest and is interfering with your digital signage project, I suggest you send them a love letter, so to speak. A note of appreciation for who they are and what they do. (Here comes the gag reflex.) Let them know that though you do not need them on the project, you would love to hear their ideas because they are just oh so valuable.
This will take a bit of pride swallowing, but if they are going to be involved you need them on your site.
Kill them with kindness. They'll never see it coming. You might even make a new friend. And for that I apologize.
In corporate communications, we're "asked" by our leaders to do things that sometimes don't fall into this common environment and I enjoyed butting heads with them.
And for those looking to install a digital signage network for employee communications, sometimes IT gets their nose out of joint by sticking it in the wrong places. . . uh I mean they intervene to protect the native IT environment. That's it.
Even with our cellular digital signage approach and SaaS-based Broadcast Portal, which both require zero IT support, infrastructure or investment, they still feel they need to be involved.
If it walks like an IT project and talks like an IT project, then it must be an IT project. Right?
Wrong.
But the more you push back in an apparent move of disrespect instead of pure and logical business sense, the worse it's going to get. If you have a "dedicated" (twitch, twitch) IT professional who is only looking to protect the company's best interest and is interfering with your digital signage project, I suggest you send them a love letter, so to speak. A note of appreciation for who they are and what they do. (Here comes the gag reflex.) Let them know that though you do not need them on the project, you would love to hear their ideas because they are just oh so valuable.
This will take a bit of pride swallowing, but if they are going to be involved you need them on your site.
Kill them with kindness. They'll never see it coming. You might even make a new friend. And for that I apologize.
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