Does IT Matter? This is the discussion I recently had with Larry Cannel, who has been an integrated part of the Collaborative Applications Group at Ford Motor Company since 1998. As a leader in the IT side of driving collaborative technology strategies, he has some great insight to the actual deployment and adoption of collaborative tools. Part of leading change is understanding new technologies and how they can solve enterprise knowledge and collaborative needs. Larry will be speaking at the Collaborative Technologies Conference, which starts in just a week now, on Collaborative Strategy and how IT can drive these strategies. In essence, Larry argues that IT does indeed matter.

Can IT lead collaborative strategies? Or should it be left to each vertical function to find their own means? Larry strongly asserts that, in most cases, IT are the only ones in the position to do so. However, it really does depend on the individual or team leading the process. One crucial component is perspective. Is IT the owner of the collaboration tool or are they the operator of it? Most of the time IT is simply the operator of technology - you throw out a tool like audioconferencing then just walk away. However, with collaborative tools, they must step up to be the owners. Here is the distinction in perspective: as an operator, the focus is on saving cost and avoiding risk; as an owner, the focus is on creating value and seeking opportunities to create value - on making it easier for people to meet and collaborate. To do so, they must drive the change. So, changing perspective is the first step, and it's one obviously on the shoulders of individuals. The role of IT has changed, and people must change with it.

How can IT ensure that collaboration tools are used to create value? Part of this comes in how its adopted. IT has a role to show people why something creates value - to show them how to post files in a wiki, for example, rather than dumping them to email. Reinforcing value creates a pull effect. IT can even go so far as to start using the tools themselves - to become the best practice community for others to watch and learn. Just like I discussed with Ross Mayfield on the topic of wikis, there should be a balance of bottom-up/grassrots adoption along with driving the change top-down. However, Larry and Ross differ in opinion on ownership. Ross argues for shared ownership, whereas Larry argues for IT ownership. I can see the validity in both arguments, and I'm sure it's a long-standing debate that I'm just grazing now.

Go read more of the ownership discussion on the CTC blog.