HandShakeHow many of you have experienced an IT project where at the end of the day either the program that was created does not do what it originally was intended to do so no one uses it or it does exactly what is needed but there is a new “fire” today so again no one uses it? 

During my career in transportation, I have been fortunate enough to work with a large, mid-sized, and small carrier.  A carrier as large as 9000 trucks down to a carrier of 150 trucks.  I’ve seen and experienced many things but one thing that I’ve seen in common at all these companies, relative to relationship between IT and Operations, is how these departments work together. 

Many times I’ve seen operations requesting reports, new applications, improvements, customized programming, etc. that, in the heat of the moment, they “need” but 2 weeks later has fallen to the wayside with the latest fire. 

I feel for the IT folks that are continuously chasing their tails, trying to catch the latest “we gotta have” and not working on driving efficiency into the operation.  The frustration of spending countless planning, programming, and implementation hours on something no one uses or looks at any more.

Here are a few things I have seen work:

Op’s - Don’t ask for stuff you’re not going to use!  You are wasting time and resources.  Do you absolutely need this?  How often are you going to use it?  Who is going to use it?   What value will it bring?  Is there something we have today that we can use?

IT - Make sure you have periodic prioritization meetings.  Don’t be afraid to ask the questions that Op’s needs to ask themselves before they make a request.  Make sure you fully understand how all the cogs of the organization fit together.   Try to provide insight into what other areas of the company may be doing that pertains to the project from an IT perspective, insight as to what new technology may be available, and insight into possible options/features that could be added to make the program more valuable.

As an outsider to IT, my perception is that they want to make an impact on the business.  They want to create tools, that users actually use, to improve the overall results of the company.

As operator’s, our biggest desire is an IT department that understands what we do, spends time periodically to analyze how we could harness technology, and make improvements.

Operations frustrations come from an IT department that sits back and says “spell out exactly what you want and we will do it for you.”   There are so many options out there of what it could be. 

There must be a marriage between the 2 departments.  Operations can start with a basic outline of what is needed but there must be dialog from IT of “if we could provide this, would that be helpful?” or “did you know this is out there and available?”  Communication is key!

In my opinion, those carriers out there that invest in and harness technology, to drive efficiencies into their operation, will survive over the ones that don’t see IT as an integral part of the overall company rather just a necessity.

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