April 1998 • Volume 8 • Number 4
Guest Editorial:
Information Technology is Everybody's Business!
Last year, productivity in the U.S. manufacturing
sector grew 4 percent, the largest increase since the early
1960s. Why? Check out the feature articles in recent
APICS—The Performance Advantage magazines: e-commerce, supply chain
optimization, data warehousing and demand management — all
are enabled by information technology (IT). Without a doubt,
the United States' sustained competitiveness in manufacturing
and service economies has been fueled by advances in IT. After years
of "glass house" stereotypes, poor service
perceptions and suspect return on investment, IT has
finally delivered! According to Computer Sciences Corporation's annual chief information officer (CIO) survey, CIOs are now focused on aligning with
business strategy, enterprise integration, electronic partnerships
and leveraging IT as a competitive advantage.
Manufacturing companies are rewarding this confidence in technology
by increasing their investment in IT to 3.5 percent of sales,
up from 2 percent not long ago. Not surprisingly, the
marketplace has also witnessed a transfer of wealth to
software entrepreneurs and escalating salaries of all IT
professionals. Clearly, IT has evolved from a back office expense to
be controlled to a strategic investment of great value. That is the good news. The bad news? There simply
are not enough IT professionals to go around. According to a 1997 report from the U.S. Bureau of
Labor & Statistics, the number of unfilled IT jobs exceeds 200,000.
It is a classic case of supply and demand. Consider the following:
By Ron Vance
Vice President and Chief Information Officer, AMP Inc.
Demographics is part of the problem. The U.S. birth rate has dropped 38 percent since 1960. That spells trouble for many skilled trades. But a recent convocation of government, business and academia sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America in Berkeley, Calif., highlighted other issues for the IT industry. First is an image problem. The terms"nerd" and"geek" associated with computer professionals came into the vernacular while many of today's graduates were in their impressionable adolescent years. This social stigma led many, particularly women, to pursue other careers. Secondly, the rigorous technical requirements of most computer science degrees were viewed as a deterrent. Preoccupation with grade inflation and grade point average placement steered many candidates into less demanding tracks. Finally, the group highlighted an education problem, not just in computer science curriculums, but also in the awareness of parents, teachers and career counselors on the potential rewards of an IT career.
For many businesses, this shortage of IT talent can impede future productivity and customer service, thereby throttling global competitiveness. Many companies will be forced to outsource infrastructure, operations and networking support activities. Most manufacturing firms are already adopting commercial enterprise resource planning and supply chain packages, in effect outsourcing much of their application development.
Will the shortage of IT skills and resulting premiums force companies to completely externalize their IT capabilities? I hope not. While selective outsourcing of infrastructure operations and support is increasingly viable, I would caution against abdicating the analytical skills that help design and understand the business processes, data structures and systems integration, which are often unique to each company and can only be fully understood by company employees on a day-to-day basis. These areas are the very fabric of businesses and make them unique. They are strategic core competencies that are required to differentiate one's competitive position and to provide the agility to react to changing business dynamics.
For example, at AMP, systems analysts are known as business process professionals. AMP has tried to create a culture where IT is everyone's business! Only by extrapolating IT skills in process design, analysis, problem-solving, decision support and project management throughout the enterprise can AMP cope with the insatiable demand for IT-enabled solutions. Teamwork and mutual respect make the model work.
Want to become part of the solution? Become a business process professional! I suspect that most APICS members share many of the same principles and attributes. In fact, many of AMP's IT professionals joined APICS and have sought APICS certification to gain manufacturing process skills and insight into the interdependencies and interrelationships that exist throughout the enterprise. Here's the flip side: Now is the opportune time for APICS members to acquire the IT skills to maximize their effectiveness in the information age. They should partner with the IT people or reengineering teams in their organization to help transform the business. They should participate in training or retooling programs that emphasize business process skills, data structures and systems integration. By joining an IT team, they become the ultimate change agents.
The distinction between IT and the business has become irrevocably blurred. Companies can avert the IT staffing crisis by transforming their entire work force into business process professionals. Those that do will continue to be formidable competitors. Those that don't place their future and survival in the hands of others.
Ron Vance is vice president and chief information officer for AMP Inc., an international supplier of electrical and electronic connection devices.
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