Information technology has been used by business for two things, to drive innovation and to cut cost. At this early point in the year, the markets have been off their rocker, losing big money and showing signs of real panic. If you want to get ahead of the curve in your role on the frontlines of IT, you do have to think about the strategy of your employer.
We are, undoubtedly, headed for more IT cost cutting. In a time of shrinking economies and, likely, shrinking jobs, you’ll want to position yourself on projects that drive costs down. The big word on everyone’s lips lately has been virtualization. The primary reason, still, for implementing virtualization is to drive down cost through consolidation. That is not to say we can’t innovate using this technology, it’s just not going to be a driving factor this year. With major moves by Microsoft announced this week in a strengthened partnership with Citrix and the purchase of Calista, this kind of strategy is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and is going to be in every CIO’s mind.
Get ready to build spreadsheets all about cost. You may get a directive to cut a data center or find a way to outsource to a third party. Virtualization will be the primary answer in these situations. Don’t expect to get much lead time either. If companies are headed towards an economic recession, you will have to implement sooner rather than later. As an administrator, if you are not up to speed on virtualization, now is the time to get your butt in gear. Grab a few books, take a few online tutorials, and get familiar with virtualization enough to know what you are looking at when you are asked to do the job.
Don’t be the odd man out in a company looking to shrink its workforce. Granted, there isn’t always much you can do when the hatchet comes down, but working on some project that will likely be seen as fat or supporting some esoteric service that the company can do without is a bad place to be sitting. Get involved on new directives and support apps and infrastructure that are unlikely to go away. Really, you want some high level skills that are not easily outsourced. If you make big money swapping out tapes and resetting passwords for a small group inside a big company, the gravy train is about to come to a halt. Having redundant jobs in a company looking to consolidate is bad news.
Don’t forget to hang onto your contacts. Networking is important. To get a leg up in those new projects or, God forbid, if it comes time to look for a new job because of cuts, strong networking is key. Don’t be a hermit in your cubicle. Get some visibility in your company and your local technology community. Get to know people. Buy them coffee or take them out to lunch. You may have a lot to do now, but you may have nothing to do in six months if people don’t see you as valuable.
It’s going to be a tough 2008 for the economy, and that reality touches all of us. Just remember, beyond picking a president and discussing the bailout that is bound to happen, you will need to take care of yourself. Get your technology skills up, position yourself to take advantage of new mandates for IT, and make sure everyone knows who you are.
By Eric Beehler, Consortio Services (consortioservices.com/blog)