There is something of a tug-of-war in many companies between the IT department, which sees itself as the gatekeeper of information and all things technical, and end users, who need access to information. In effect, there is a disconnect between the IT department and power users trying to gain access to the information they feel they need in order to do their jobs. Some IT departments take a defensive approach, locking users out of direct access to some systems or limiting the systems resources available to them to run queries and reports. It's more effective, however, to approach it more positively. One idea is to use a liaison within business units to bridge the gap between IT considerations and business requirements for information access. Liaisons can educate users on safe and effective practices, provide more reactive and immediate local support where required, and feed back requirements, concerns and ideas for improvement to IT in a much more coordinated and efficient way. Another idea is to proactively assess information access requirements beyond prescriptive reporting and then make sure users have the tools and data that match their business needs.
Read more about improving user access to critical information:
- read the article at IT-Director.com
