What do those bods in IT know, anyway? That seems to be the question the budget holder asks at the beginning of March each year, as they charge ahead implementing some solution to a problem that has not been identified, with the sole purpose of utilising the capital underspend which cannot possibly be redirected towards actual need.
For the first few years, somebody, somewhere, will pay the extortionate unforeseen renewal fees from a revenue budget, unquestioningly, because, well, it exists. But eventually, one day, a diligent manager will arrive who scratches their head and asks: “Um, why have we been paying an IT consultancy £££ a month to host a smidgen of data for fifteen years?” Nobody knows.
Nobody knows, because nobody ever asked. It was all done on a whim, through some circuitous route to avoid the annoying bod in IT who would ask questions like: “What is your aim?” or “What are you trying to achieve?” or “What is the problem you’re trying to address?” or “Who will support this?” or “What’s wrong with the solution we already have in place?”
But eventually, that very same IT bod will be there to pick up the pieces, when it’s determined that the current approach is no longer sustainable, with budget cuts and that IT consultancy playing hardball. At last, the diligent manager will ask the questions that should have been asked in the first place. Now they know exactly what the problem is. The question is, can those bods in IT provide a solution?
Last modified: 12 October 2022
