Welcome to Above The Line IT! Above The Line IT is a metaphor for looking at IT from the business’ perspective. Logically understanding the business is the first, critical step for IT. You often hear from IT that “IT drives the business!”. This is true if we’re talking about a technology company but I would say that in most businesses, “IT accelerates the pace of business!” The simple fact is that IT cannot “drive” the business anywhere because without business there is no need for IT.
My motivation for this website is to share the experiences I’ve had working in various areas of Information Technology. What fascinates me most about IT is how complex it is and how many people are not sure what someone in IT does. Undoubtedly, if you work in IT someone has asked you to fix his or her personal computer. Little do they know that within most large IT organizations there’s a service area just for fixing problems with personal computers and you probably don’t work in that service area!
Ironically, my quest for clarity in what IT does began in earnest when someone asked me to define a Business Application. Seemed simple enough at the time. Hopefully, by sharing my experience I will be able to take some of the complexity out of IT.
Please email info@abovethelineit.com and address any questions or comments to Jeff Downes.