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by Tom Kaneshige

How to Smooth IT-Business Friction

Feature
Aug 01, 2013 2 mins
Innovation IT Governance IT Leadership

Infographic: Why can't IT pros and business pros get along? Maybe there is inherent tension between the two groups, but there are ways tech and end-users can work together. BMC Software looks at the prevailing sentiment and offers suggestions to improve communications.

Who loves their IT department? Only one out of 10 have a positive sentiment toward IT support or service, according to a survey by BMC Software. A whopping 63 percent have a negative sentiment, while the rest take a neutral stance.

The vast majority of end-users shake their heads when it comes to IT’s ability to respond and resolve to tech problems in a timely manner. The perceived impact this has on worker productivity is pretty bad, too.

[Related: Can BYOD Bury the Hatchet Between IT and Business?]

“I hate calling the help desk at work,” a survey respondent writes. “Not only are they useless, but the guys also do some excessive breathing into the phone.”

BMC offers a few things both end-users and IT professionals can do to reduce this friction. End-users can have a “take your techie to lunch day,” while IT can deploy a digital ticketing system that drives accountability.

Another potential fix that has been gaining steam lately is the enterprise Genius Bar. Companies such as SAP are taking a page from Apple’s hands-on, consumer-friendly approach to solving tech problems. This trend is in the early stages, yet an enterprise Genius Bar has the potential to change the odd-couple relationship dramatically.

Here is BMC’s infographic about the friction between IT and business.

BMCinfographic.jpg
Click to enlarge

Tom Kaneshige covers Apple, BYOD and Consumerization of IT for CIO.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn. Email Tom at tkaneshige@cio.com