My position at the company that I have been with for over two years was made redundant a couple of weeks ago. Generally, I think that at some point in all of our lives, there is a lack of understanding from upper management and, in general, those who simply do not understand our contributions or our jobs; employees are often taken for granted. The company is doing well, but it is under new management, and they decided to put all IT projects on hold. Perhaps they are afraid of the slow-down of the economy; companies are making cuts, and IT is one of the areas where they make the first cuts. Perhaps they just do not see the value of IT. Perhaps they feel that they can get by on the reduced number of staff by cutting out new projects, but at some point, they will understand that they do need to spend money to make money and the moment they ask for the IT projects to go ahead, they may not understand that it takes time and planning to achieve goals. IT projects do not happen overnight or by magic.
The main issue is that IT is beneficial to the company (sometimes the benefits are not immediate), and companies could be put far behind if they fail to address IT and making improvements to their IT systems and communications. There are several small solutions that companies could take that would make a lot of difference by investigating their needs and simply by understanding what IT can offer. This is something that I recognised quite early on while at the company. There was plenty of scope to make IT-related improvements and develop better applications and new systems as solutions, but the company primarily had other ideas and other events prohibited futher developments in the IT area. The company's reluctance to spend on IT was possibly a result of the traditional aspect of the company which functioned primarily as a manufacturing company.
In short, I feel that companies should embrace IT and see it as a way to save money and/or make money in the long term. Investing in and keeping knowledgeable IT staff is a benefit. I am certain that companies will remember this once they have realised that they have fallen behind in IT and need 'miracle' IT projects completed in tight deadlines and for tight budgets.
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