“… only business managers and users can create value from technology. Not the IT team.”
I disagree.
IT can indeed create value, albeit only potential value. It is the business managers and users who can realise that potential value, if they choose to do so. Because as the piece then goes on to say…
“If people, processes and culture are not changing to support the technology we are trying to initiate, it won’t be sustainable and the business won’t realise the benefits.”
We are, rightly, very cautious nowadays about implementing change and thinking about how it will impact users. But we can take this too far. I once conceived of a quick self-service process for users – go to a web page, enter a matter code and click a button – that saved them fee earning time (and through automation, the support teams time too). It took one day to develop… but took 6 years to implement because of ‘due consultation’, change control process, development of training material etc.
It’s OK to say “You can lead a lawyer to water, but you can’t make them drink *”, but there are times when an easily adopted solution which leads to efficiency gains should just get done and embedded into the infrastructure without undue rigmarole. It is up to firms senior management to allow, support and encourage such ‘quick wins’, which rapidly and without fuss become ‘just part of the way we do things’.
(* those that know me well will understand that I don’t usually finish the phrase that way – it more usually involves a shotgun and a messy ending)