If you want to transform IT, start with finance

Re:If you want to transform IT, start with finance by blihp on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @06:48PM (#27827188)

Computers first came into many companies via the Finance department way back when because they recognized what computers could do as glorified calculators, spreadsheets and accounting systems.[1] IT departments were often an outgrowth of those early systems. The only 'trick' to dealing with finance people is being able to draw a direct line between a proposal and either increased revenue or decreased costs. For solutions that can do that, they are often your best champion short of having the CEO already on board. For solutions that require a leap of faith/vision/creativity, they're probably not the place to start.

[1] Who do you think the numeric keypad on 'full size' keyboards popularized by the IBM PC were for? Accountants. Granted, word processing was the other early use case... that Finance signed the checks for. IBM understood their customer.

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Re:If you want to transform IT, start with finance by cratermoon on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @07:48PM (#27827616)

> Computers first came into many companies via the Finance department way back when because they recognized what computers could do as glorified calculators, spreadsheets and accounting systems.[1] IT departments were often an outgrowth of those early systems

And yet, somehow, IT departments ended up getting classified as cost centers by the finance department.

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Re:If you want to transform IT, start with finance by blihp on Tuesday July 13, 2021 @08:34PM (#27828014)

If they don't directly contribute to the bottom line, that's how they should be classified from an accounting perspective. There are at least a couple of ways IT departments could avoid that fate: having internal customers pay for their services independent of the cost or directly managing projects that otherwise contribute to the bottom line. It's rare, but it does happen.

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