Is There a Wall Between IT and the Rest of the Company? Part 1 of 2

The outcome: After months of no progress, the president shrinks from his responsibility and says, “We’ll keep the current system.”

Unfortunately, this scene is played out on a daily basis in catalog companies of all sizes. In defense of IT people, they’re often given responsibility for everything from telephone systems to help desk to advanced WMS systems to e-commerce and e-mail systems. Most often they’re underbudgeted. Management backs into a policy of a percentage of net sales that the company can afford to spend. Additionally, the technology is diverse, complex and represents generations of different languages, databases and standards.