Compared with January 2008 and our first issue of Housing Technology, the role of the IT departments has changed almost beyond all recognition. In the last five or six years, most housing providers’ boards have finally understood the importance of IT and appreciate how it can be used to transform their business operations, financial performance and, ultimately, tenant satisfaction.
That’s all well and good, but it does mean that there is now greater pressure on IT teams to demonstrate their value to the wider organisation. Whereas five years ago, it might have been acceptable for IT departments to report that a new HMS had been successfully installed or that several hundred desktops had been replaced without disrupting end-users, IT directors should now focus on providing quantitative data on the value technology brings to the business and the direct benefits, savings, performance increases and so on that are enabled as a consequence.
Not only does this demonstrate the value of IT, it also serves to change the perceptions of IT from being ‘just another department’ to being the beating heart of the organisation, without which none of the other teams could function.
