From a marketing perspective, seek to understand the market, the product cycles, time to market and market response times. With growth in international markets, for example, sales numbers are skewing more toward global markets. IT needs to understand this trend and be prepared to respond to it. Further, with technology, market data and business intelligence are coming back so rapidly that businesses need to be able to respond quickly to market dynamics. This is where the IT group can work with marketing departments to determine how to make this information meaningful to the company. On the finance side, understanding the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as other control and compliance issues, is important. How can technology be leveraged to help in these areas?

All and all, it's really about understanding the business in greater depth, then interacting with users and internal customers from a value-added perspective.

The importance of communication skills

Most people can learn to read financial statements, but ironically, the bigger challenge for IT professionals will be developing the communication skills needed to interface with other business functions. IT can no longer hide behind a firewall. Communications skills will be a key element of your success. An important part of communication skills is your ability to influence the ultimate users, garner support for your IT solutions and build consensus. Establishing your credibility with your internal customers is the best way to start the communication process. Becoming more business-minded will help make your interactions with users more successful.

Conclusion