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Discovering the 3rd dimension
Two questions have always fascinated me. First, how best can the business express its desired outcomes in an IT meaningful way, and second, how best can IT express solutions in a business meaningful way?
So, I followed Andy’s recent post (Enterprise Architects versus Business Architects)
with interest. It resonated deeply with me and seemed to have a currency about it…
We often talk about Business and IT as simply just that – two dimensions. We collectively invest significant resource in trying to bridge the divide between these two, but despite these efforts, many of us have experienced the loss in translation across the ‘gap’. I’ve come to believe, however, that there’s a 3rd dimension. It’s always been there, and was almost openly discussed back in the sixties to the early nineties.
The dimension? Information Systems – IS in contrast to IT.
Let me describe what I mean by an Information System - the landscape of business information used by people within an organisation and how they use information to deliver business outcomes, which is interesting in contrast to how we might define IT as the hardware and software technology that automates or otherwise supports information processing.
For me, the Information Systems dimension is the intersection between business and IT. In this dimension, people and machines play an equally important part in the delivery of value. In the IS world, the ‘business / IT divide’ simply doesn’t exist - it turns out that by working in this dimension, a common language between business and IT is not only possible – it seems inevitable.
There is nothing new in the concept but its relevance today versus years ago has changed: Today more information, created and used by more people and machines than could’ve ever been imagined then. People, through IT, are connected to limitless interacting systems of information.
I’ve found blowing the dust off and refreshing the concept of Information Systems is proving very useful; providing insights and context to tried-and-tested modelling techniques used by business process analysts and enterprise architects. And, what’s really exciting me, is that this is leading to better (more useful) outcomes to people (and organisations) using IT by shining a light on the interacting ‘systems’ of value and the associated implications and affects on the ‘systems’ of information.
Comments on the topic would be very welcome – and if interested, can I suggest taking a look at a recent post on Nigel Green’s Services Fabric blog exploring the world of ‘Systems Thinking’ and Web-fuelled trends.
Posted by Carl Bate on August 9, 2007 | 
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Comments
# on August 10, 2007 9:23 AM, William Heurdier said:
Very interesting perspective of the IS dimention.
There is a new trend of initiatives to define and deliver these "IS architectures". They try, with more or less success, to provide a bridge between the two worlds.
The MS motion initiative, for example, try to divide business into capabilities and, by refining them, helps build an IS projects portfolio.
I find it interesting that this initiatives is pushed by an IT provider, risking to face the traditionnal scepticism from the business side...
# on August 28, 2007 10:37 AM, Carl Bate said:
Hi William - thanks for the comments.
I agree there is a trend towards IS architecture but I still think when we analyse what's going on the trend is still predominately IT biased - hardly suprising given the increasing importance of technology in value add business functions. And while it remains so ultimately the IS dimension will elude the mass market.
Very interesting comment on risking the traditional scepticism from the business side. Paradoxically the better feedback on this topic often comes from business functions rather than the IT function, or to be more precise, anyone in the business or IT functions with a more business 'what' than IT 'how' focus. My assessment is that many IT functions have spent so long on developing engineering disciplines it's a longer evolution to re-discover IS and apply the concepts. In essence, many IT functions are in an 'engineering trap' created over many years through trying to bridge the business IT gap dominated by IT thinking.
The trap also applies to technology enabled business change, where systems thinking eludes most and processes are the dominate form of engaging with the business. Process is of course very useful, but certain critical aspects of the _system_ (human and machine) dynamics are missed.
The topic also seems to significantly aid common language and relations in the boardroom - in essence helping build a welcome change of tone from IT executives out to their stakeholders.