In some organizations there is a tendency to leave IT to the experts. Some employees may actually see the concept of business IT as some form of unwanted intrusion into their daily routine of producing results. If there is an IT manager and his team, they are hidden away into some basement and banished from the normal social life of the office.

However it would appear that geeks are very much in fashion once that prized computer breaks down and all the people in the office can do switch it on and off. There are also plenty of stereotypes as to the type of person that gets involved in IT. However like almost all other things in the world, the people who work in IT have evolved over time. The IT manager can now command quite substantial wages and wields considerable influence within and outside the office.

Besides the need to create good interpersonal relationships among members of staff, it is time to recognize that IT has to be owned by everyone in the business. Where IT problems are localized and dealt with on a piecemeal basis there is a lack of coordinated activities. This could lead to duplication of effort or the failure to implement good practice.

Ideally business IT needs to be seen as a shared resource with shared benefits but also shared responsibilities. A case in point is where viruses are imported via email. If members of staff, no matter how junior they may be, are not properly trained on how to deal with spam email, a single virus can bring the whole organization to breaking point.

The other area in which individual ownership is crucial is innovation. Business IT is meant to serve the company and the needs of the people who work in it. Logic dictates that it is those people who are in the best position to describe the type of innovations that would improve efficiency or the customer experience. IT technicians might have better than average abilities in terms of converting abstract concepts into software but ultimately it is the end user who might need to direct them. The definition of end users includes customers who stand to benefit from any new developments within the business IT segment.

However all this shared responsibility does not excuses senior managers from their role as custodians of the IT systems that have been developed. They are expected to provide strategic oversight and allocate resources towards the necessary maintenance or development as the case may be. Business information technology is a critical resource and executives had a duty to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the business yet also being competitive enough to rival other firms.

In conclusion Business Information Technology continues to grow as the commercial environment evolves. Successful firms are those that will be able to utilize the latest models to enhance their competitiveness. The less successful firms are those that will continue to rely on the old business cultures that were virtually closed to new technology. Furthermore everyone needs to get involved in the commissioning and development of business IT in order to ensure that their own needs are met.