IT – Tax Department Friend or Foe?

Posted by Traci WheelercloseAuthor: Traci Wheeler Name: Traci Wheeler
Email: traci@redmoonsolutions.com
Site: http://blog.redmoonsolutions.comt
About: Traci is a member of the executive leadership team and leads our sales and marketing efforts at Red Moon Solutions. She has over ten years of software business experience serving small and large clients in a variety of industries.See Authors Posts (102) on Jan 26, 2012 | 0 comments

Historically, the IT guys or gals at most companies were responsible for supporting and keeping up electronic communications throughout the organization, including servers, computers, printers and telephones.  These were the folks you went to when your computer wouldn’t boot up, and you had to get that final tax return finished and out the door.  They were the ones you called when the printer jammed and no else seemed to have any idea how to fix it.  They came to your rescue when the projector didn’t work or the phone had no dial tone in the conference room right before your meeting was about to start.  They were your friends, right?  You were happy to see them.

Over the past several years, the role of IT has been changing, and all indications are it will continue to do so.  As TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner explained in his September 2011 article, What the IT Department Will Look Like in 2015, the shift will have IT resources more focused on software, the cloud and mobile devices.   While this should be no surprise to anyone who has kept up with the changes in technology over the last five years, this shift is proving to be a thorn in the side for a lot of tax departments.

The story I have heard over the past year from a number of tax departments goes something like this:

The tax department knows they have a technology problem they need to solve.  In this case, let’s say a current software package in place does not meet their needs.  Because they fully understand tax and know what kind of information they require, they are highly qualified to determine what kind of solution they need.  So, they go on a search for a new solution.  They pick some vendors, watch some demos, ask a lot of questions and arrive at the solution they want.   Inevitably, somewhere along the way, IT enters the picture.  In their new IT role as a project manager, they have been tasked with making sure the tax department makes a good technology decision.   They are not just making sure the current infrastructure will support the new solution or evaluating any security risks, more and more they are acting as facilitators, negotiators and gatekeepers, frequently with little understanding of what the tax department truly needs. A lot of times the end game is a tax department left with a fruitless evaluation and no workable solution.  Back to the drawing board!  Suddenly, you aren’t so happy to see these guys.

So, I ask you….is IT your friend or your foe?  Have you been able to work successfully with your IT folks today to get the results or solutions you need?  Why do you think that is?  If not, what are the obstacles IT is putting in your way?  Is there any way to overcome them?  Please share in the comments below.  I would love to hear from you.

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