On the other hand, it seems to me that business infrastructure is often maintained by people (in HR, payroll, PR and whatever) whose core competency should be their soft skills but frequently fall very, very short.

I have to agree that it’s not appropriate to assume that all the faults are on the side of the IT Crowd. I refer to that particular stereotype quite deliberately.

I believe that education is a key component of dealing effectively with the issues that users face. For example, in any new application or system deployment, research has shown that if users are involved in the initial decision-making leading up to a new deployment, users are more likely to accept the new system and throw their support behind it. Such research results call for effective change management strategies to reduce educate users on the benefits that accrue from new application / system deployments.

As another example, in the area of information security, research again has shown that an educated workforce is less likely to commit errors that lead to security exposures. Additionally, security governance adds another dimension to the issue of dealing with users and keeping their computing activities from adversely impacting organizational resources.

This was a major contributing factor to my move from being an employee in “Corporate America” to running my own consulting firm that specialized in the development of custom software solutions. Over the years, I have had a chance to work with many different technologies, and apply the appropriate one to create innovative and unique solutions for many clients.

But, technology does not live in a vacuum. To utilize it effectively, one must understand the real “need” that is driving the work; and as an outside consultant it is critical that the knowledgte is transfered to the client so that the result can be effectively utilized and maintained.

The end result is that communication (listening, asking questions, learning, advocating, mentoring, et. al.) with people is really the most important part of what I do. Looking back over the 25 years since I founded the company, it is surely the single biggest reason we have survived when other firms have all disappeared.

Ironic; isn’t it?