Instead of just making untargeted, wholesale changes to systems, Fruehwald and his staff have learned lessons from archdiocese employees and worked with them to determine how to best meet their business needs.
"In the past, innovation has been heavily technology-driven, with IT being the primary driver," Fruehwald said last week. But that approach "had mixed results, with some users feeling that IT has forced certain projects and technologies on them," he added. "Today, we are more collaborative."
That mind-set was largely echoed by several other IT managers who, like Frueh-wald, plan to attend Computerworld's seventh annual Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, which starts Monday in Palm Desert, Calif.
Beyond Flashy Hardware
In a survey of Premier 100 honorees and other prospective attendees that was conducted via the Internet in advance of the conference, 51 percent of the 162 respondents said that they think their IT departments are more innovative than their companies are as a whole. But in interviews last week, six IT managers said technology innovation nowadays involves much more than springing flashy new hardware and feature-filled software on end users.
To foster innovative thinking inside the Philadelphia Archdiocese's IT department, Fruehwald encourages all of his staffers to bring forth ideas, suggestions and recommendations, which are then considered and hashed out. "Oftentimes, we ignore the folks in the trenches who we rely on for the day-to-day operations, [but] their ideas and suggestions are as valuable as those of management," he said.
Fruehwald noted, though, that the process isn't limited to IT itself. By witnessing how end users worked, IT staffers learned that some were entering data into spreadsheets they kept for themselves, while others were writing information on paper and then filing the papers into three-ring binders. None of the data was available on an organizationwide basis, nor was it easily usable or searchable by other people who needed it, Fruehwald said.
The observations led to the deployment of client management software from Harmony Information Systems Inc. in Reston, Va., via a phased rollout that was completed last year. Fruehwald said the Harmony software stores data in a single repository that all the end users can access--something they could barely imagine doing before.
Todd Norrgard, director of IT at Watertown, N.Y.-based Car-Freshner Corp., agreed that IT innovation is only important if it increases business efficiency. "We've been told not to sell IT--just recommend solutions for known problems," he said. "There's got to be a tangible payback, or innovation isn't a sufficient business case for implementing something new."
The air-freshener maker's approach comes from lessons learned over the years, according to Norrgard. "In the past, IT has attempted to drive innovation by providing new technology to users, even when there hasn't been an identified problem," he said. "However, the result has been that our users tend to lose focus on what they've been hired to do. They do IT, instead of using IT to augment their daily business tasks."
IT leaders need more political skills now and have to "be willing to take a humble approach if that's what it takes to get the end result," Norrgard added. "IT cannot dictate, and sometimes cannot be the face out front [on projects]."
Technology is still a big part of the innovation equation at Talley Defense Systems Inc., a maker of weapon systems and other products in Mesa, Ariz. Jim Speer, Talley's director of information systems, said that about half of the IT innovation at Talley is driven by user needs, while the other half is driven by technology "without inputs or recognition from the user community."
Speer added that Talley's IT department definitely leads other operations in the push for innovation inside the company. "We usually find ourselves ahead of the curve," he said. "We provide solutions to our company that [other departments] are not even aware of." Even so, Speer said, the guiding principle at Talley is that technology innovation "is there to help achieve results in the organization."
SIDEBAR
New thinking
Which of the following methods are you using to foster innovation within IT?
57 percent: Offer IT staffers training programs on new and emerging technologies.
46 percent: Set up a dedicated group within IT to work on pilot projects and emerging technologies.
41 percent: Locate IT staffers within business departments to work directly with end users on projects.
35 percent: Outsource routine tasks so internal IT workers can focus on new projects and technologies.
7 percent: Have not implemented any specific methods to help foster innovation.
Is your IT group more or less innovative than your company as a whole?
BASE: 162 IT and business managers who are Premier 100 honorees or have registered to attend this week's Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference. The respondents were surveyed by Computerworld via the Internet last month. Multiple responses were allowed on the first question.