“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet” – William Shakespeare, 1594

By Bob Amster

When the Bard wrote these words of wisdom he was not referring to the name of a product, or a company, or a discipline, like Information Technology. (He was inferring that what matters, is what someone is, not what one is called, specifically Romeo Montague.) However, the names of certain things (Tweeter), or companies (Intactix), should mean something; like the names of The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), or The National Cash Register Corporation (NCR). Names of businesses should help to define what the companies are. Any name ending with an ‘X’ (Retalix, Intactix, Givex, SmartClixx, Tomax, Torex, Trax) or ‘K’ (like the old Retek) should be banned, as should many other names that don’t end in either of these letters but don’t mean anything, either.

The business function that we today have come to call IT (Information Technology) is not only about technology. It is about information systems whether manual or automated. It is about using technology often to support these systems and processes. I believe that the function should go back to being called IS (like when it was MIS), or IS&T (Information Systems and Technology). Calling it information technology infers that it’s all about technology when, in fact, we continue to harp on the point that CIOs have to have business acumen and should not follow the geek track.

I think that in non-technology companies CTOs should report to CIOs. I see too many companies in which a CIO or VP of IT is too much the ‘techie’ and over engages in technical initiatives, and is not enough the ‘biz’ guy engaged in solving business problems through the use of technology. If we emphasize the word technology, businesses run the risk of falling in love with technology (because technology can be sexy), and embarking on projects for technology’s sake instead of business’ sake.

You may disagree, but from now on, you will hear me talk about the information systems and technology function.