- The Company That Couldn't Run a Second Shift
- So Does IT Really Matter?
- What Really Matters
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What Really Matters
If you get the "people thing" right—give them good tools, and avoid wrangling them in red tape that slows them down—you'll get better results. In other words, people, agility, and technology: These three forces absolutely control the velocity at which a company can take in and leverage new technology innovation. Enterprise agility at consuming technology innovation matters so much that it sways the fortunes of entire companies—and perhaps entire industries (such as the American healthcare system). IT not only matters, it's demonstrably central to the health of nearly every large company on the face of the Earth.
Which factor of the three is most important? Heed the wise words of Jack Welch: "The team with the best players wins." Having an engaged workforce, in IT and every other area of your company, is what matters most—getting that right is usually what enables innovative IT and agility. Of course, all three truly are strategic imperatives—ignoring any of them imperils not just you, but your entire organization.
Six years and one "great recession" have passed since the publication of "IT Doesn't Matter." If nothing else, during that time we've seen how silly it is to allow capital to gravitate away from investments in productivity and technology, toward things like financial engineering and other mischief that we get into when we forget business fundamentals. I hope that the lesson sticks this time.