How to Work Well With IT

Many Support and Success organizations have a fraught relationship with the IT team, which they see as quick to turn down requests, slow to help, and persnickety with the protocols they insist on. (From their end, the IT team is often overburdened, blamed if anything goes wrong, and under strict compliance constraints.) Here are five avenues to bridge the divide.

Designate a process czar

I strongly suggest installing a process czar to oversee all processes in your organization (case management, knowledge management, customer onboarding, customer retention, etc.)  The process czar models new processes, prioritizes IT requests, and stress-tests new requests before they go to IT. It’s essential to focus on the process first, not the tool.

If your team is large, the process czar is a full-time job or may even require a small team. Otherwise, it can be a role for a manager or senior team member.

Develop some technical expertise

We’re not talking about becoming a tool expert, certainly not to the level of coding or even system administration, but it’s very useful if the process czar (or someone else in the Ops team) has more than a user-level knowledge of the tools you use. They should be able to answer questions like, What is the tool capable of? What is easy to customize? What integrations exist and which ones would be good to add? Even more basic: what are the names of the fields you use?

The more technical knowledge you have, the more you can hold your own in a discussion with IT, press for quick changes, and communicate your needs accurately.

Don’t change your mind (too much)

Of course, business demands evolve over time and what you want tomorrow may contradict what you need today–but keep back and forth changes to a minimum. They are wasteful and create resentment, encouraging the IT team to delay implementation just to wait it out.

Think through each request so they don’t inadvertently create undesirable side effects that will generate more, and urgent requirements. For instance, adding a new case status may seem like a small ask but it could defeat existing automation rules. The knowledge of your process czar matters a lot here, but they also need to adopt a discipline of long-term thinking.

Develop a collaborative relationship

Be a good partner: seek to understand IT’s constraints, plan ahead as much as you can, and be open to input. A good IT team will propose solutions you may not have thought about, recommend different prioritization approaches, and suggest different tools. Be receptive to what they have to say.

If your IT team is not that proactive, be prepared to do more homework on what tools you could use and how you can adapt them to your needs.

In all cases, pay close attention to the formalities of making and justifying requests. IT teams tend to be very process-driven; keeping up with the documentation and red tape, even if you feel it’s excessive, will smooth the way.

Consider hiring out

Most IT teams have long backlogs, and post-sales functions often get short shrift when priorities are established. Perhaps you can fund your own development? There are many skilled third-party developers out there (including FT Works, for Salesforce) and your IT team may welcome partners. Choose a well-scoped, self-standing project to start, and be prepared to adapt to unforeseen onboarding and collaboration requirements if the IT team is new to working with outsiders.

What are your main challenges when working with IT? What have you done to overcome them?