In my post yesterday I had written about security and efficiency.  Closely related to that topic is service and control.

I like to tell my staff that IT is in the service business and we are not in the control business.  IT staff has to exercise control but the goal of that control should always be to provide better service. The goal should never be “I will control because I can”.  Certain areas of IT tend to attract control freaks and I have to confess that the power that control gives can be quite alluring.

IT employees also like control because it makes their life easier.  It is easier to say “go away” than to provide service by actually listening to what the user needs and take on the inherent risks in implementing anything.

Organizations delegate a lot of control to IT for many reasons including security and cost containment but that control usually gets in the way of the rest of organization from getting their job done as efficiently as they would like.  The solution to that is openness and communication.  If the rest of the organization knows why IT is required to say “no” to their latest idea, hopefully it will lead to a friendly joint exploration of alternative solutions that would be better for the organization as a whole.