Speaking at analyst META Group's METAmorphosis PLUS! Conference in Sydney, St George Bank's chief information officer, John Loebenstein, said that he was getting fed up with people always pointing the finger at IT for project issues.
Loebenstein said he was often asked his opinion of aligning IT with business, an issue which he believes has been a common cry for some time.
"Business units themselves have to realise business and IT need to align and move towards corporate strategy," he said. "Alignment means a coming together around a common purpose."
"If you're going to have alignment, [you've] got to have an organisation that has clearly defined strategies and clearly defined goals."
He also insisted CIOs should be sitting at the management table. According to Loebenstein, part of the problem is that as clever and as dedicated to the business as many IT professionals are, they can be poor communicators. "Start breaking down barriers, start talking to each other," he urged.
Loebenstein stated there was a need for good relationship managers in IT departments to achieve effective communication, and that these managers needed to be technology literate but not necessarily IT experts.
Another tip Loebenstein offered to senior IT professionals focused on ensuring good project governance within their organisations. He suggested that any work which wasn't "business as usual" should be treated as a project.
He estimated that in the last three years, 85 percent of the IT projects undertaken at St George had been delivered on time and within budget. Loebenstein said that it also had a very intense post-implementation review of projects which hadn't been as successful, to learn how it could minimise those problems happening again.
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