Should you go around the IT department?

[Robby Slaughter]

Over on the the forum Do you buy software as a service?, a question has arisen about "going around" the IT department.

This is a major selling point of many remotely-hosted software service providers: you can get software up and running without having to involve the IT department.

However, guiding the appropriate use of technology in an organization is the purpose of the IT department. In this sense, buying SaaS is kind of like purchasing your own office supplies instead of using procurement, registering for your own travel instead of using the company travel department, or doing your own brochures instead of waiting for the next round from marketing.

Or is it? Is going around the IT department good, bad, or something else? Is this is a valid selling point for SaaS or a sign of bigger problems in the organization?

Discuss!

[Mike Seidle]

should a vendor knowingly sell and install a software (infrastructure, platform, etc) service in a customer environment that has a weak security environment?

No. Never. Ever. If a client's security is that bad, it's going to expose your business in the future. Or for that matter, if a deal has great potential to make your firm look bad later, you shouldn't do the deal now. A good vendor will address this up front with the client and let the chips fall where they may.

[Bill Bean]

Generally speaking, an "end run" signifies a problem of some sort. Either the issue is with the one running or with the end being run around. That being said, it will be more or less of a problem depending on the organization and the Saas.

[Brett Davis]

The problem with going around IT, is it would probably come back to bite you. If I was the CIO of an organization and someone went around me, I would put that person's projects and requests at the back of the line.