It’s common these days for people in IT to refer to their employer as “the business”, giving it a persona, and a way to think of their employer as a client to whom they provide services. I think that’s been an important cultural shift in a number of ways:

·         It has taught IT to consider customer service and satisfaction to be as important as technical elegance

·         It’s teaching “the business” to think of IT as a consultancy – to say “here is the problem, give me some options”

Of course it doesn’t mean that giving it a name has eliminated the pain for either side. We in IT still get frustrated at short sighted decisions, and those in the business still get frustrated at our unwillingness to solve a five dollar problem with a five dollar solution.

Does your department treat “the business” as a client? And if so, has it improved things or not?  Share some thoughts!