Hole-In-The-Wall was a recent game show concept in Australia (shortly lived) and the UK imported from the home of wacky game show concepts, Japan, where it is known as Human Tetris. In the show the shape of a person in unusual poses is cut out of a wall and moved towards a contestant who must either make the corresponding shape and pass through the wall or be pushed into an icy cold pool of water. I’m fairly certain the show’s producers intentions were not to create the perfect analogy for the continual battle between Business Unit and Marketing Managers dealing with IT and Infrastructure Managers but I can’t envisage a better one.

The primary driver for Business and Marketing Managers is to meet the business objective central to their area of responsibility and to do that they need to go through the IT department. If there is no attempt to look at what the hole is and make the right shape the experience is typically a jarring one involving getting pushed back into some icy cold water. Business often tries to go around the wall but by not playing the game they get no prize at the end of it. It invariably comes back to bite them as IT ejects them from the arena.

So a bit of flexibility is required and an understanding of how the wall works. If engaged correctly IT are typically happy to explain exactly what the hole looks like and may help you create the right shape to get through it. There are degrees of flexibility and some shapes just get too hard to create but in most circumstances the pain of matching the hole is a lot less painful than the icy water, and the main thing is you get to the other side.

So leaving the analogy for a moment, which is hard because it’s fun, if Marketing and Business set out with the intention of meeting their business requirements and at the same time accept that certain internal requirements have to be met they would choose systems that provided the best business solution but also complied to IT requirements and objectives.

From the reverse perspective, IT and Infrastructure can sometimes be so unreasonable that you would need to be Cirque Du Soleil’s best contortionist to get through their requirements. IT’s major flaw is typically an incorrect reversal of perspective. They often demand the bare minimum meeting of the business requirement to meet the ideal IT requirement.  In this respect the business opportunity can sometimes not be realised as costs associated on the business unit’s side of things such as deployment, customisation, maintenance and training can balloon beyond any cost savings on the IT side.

More often on the IT side of things a tick box evaluation method can take place, does it complies or does it not, does it have this feature or does it not. On the business side of things there’s a tendency to less tick boxes and more intangible and tangible criteria measured by a range. There’s no mystery to this, IT requirements are more common across industries and are more often technology or compliance based whereas business and marketing ones are more likely to be degrees of success or profit measured by sales or external factors. For this reason IT often needs to accept that it is they that need to be more flexible to meet business needs and explore alternatives whilst still maintaining their minimum standards and non-negotiable requirements. The business will likely get more rewards if it is the IT department rather than the Business being more adaptable and making the hole to get through a simpler one.

In a reasonable world the two areas would get together and look at the total cost and opportunity to the business as to who moves to accommodate who. In the best outcomes this does happen and the IT managers that have flexibility around supporting business requirements and good communication around IT’s own objectives have wonderful careers and reputations.

On the other hand, if you are the business manager or marketing manager confronted with what seems an obstinate IT department wall, perhaps consider donning the lycra suit, doing some stretches and work on a strategy for successfully getting through the hole rather than just charging at the wall.

Picture source: BBC