Embedded (shadow) IT: Where are you?

If you have ever had a position in IT where there was a “dotted” line in your responsibility to another group, you’ve worked for embedded IT. If you have developed an application on your desktop to support your team, you have been embedded IT.

CIO’s always want to centralize most of embedded IT to achieve the cost savings of common services, infrastructure, and architecture. I’ve been embedded and centralized, both of which have their faults.

Here are some aspects of embedded IT that could be potentially missing from a centralized model:

Well understood business requirements: ability to read between the lines
Trust in your teammate’s ability to deliver
Efficiency of work and play is a given
Hard work is observed and appreciated by the business
Governance is organized and strong: no dotted lines needed
Content is fully described to suit the project at hand
Sneaker net workflow works well

Here are some aspects of centralized IT that could be potentially missing from an embedded model:

Automated workflow
Consistent metadata and values which describe content
Governance which is tuned into the goals of IT as a whole
Consolidation and sharing of duplicated services
Lack of trust in your teammate’s ability to deliver on a project due to being spread thin
Business requirements that are read literally