When a company starts an IT project, everything seems logical.
There is a need.
There are requirements.
There is a budget.
There are specialists.
And one simple question:
“Who makes the decision?”
Most people would say:
— the IT director
— the technical team
— or, in some cases, the CEO
That sounds reasonable.
But in reality, things work very differently.
The truth few openly discuss
IT decisions are almost never made by a single person.
And rarely by the one who understands the system best.
What actually happens in real projects
Several stakeholders are involved:
- IT — focuses on technology
- Business — focuses on outcomes
- Finance — controls the budget
- Procurement — manages the process
Each of them contributes to the decision.
But each does so based on different priorities.
The problem is not people — it’s the decision logic
1. IT focuses on technology
They care about:
- reliability
- architecture
- integration
But sometimes:
they don’t fully account for business priorities
2. Business focuses on results
They care about:
- speed
- efficiency
- growth
But:
they may not fully understand technical constraints
3. Finance focuses on cost
They care about:
- budget
- savings
- ROI
But:
they don’t see technical risks
4. Procurement focuses on process
They care about:
- tenders
- compliance
- comparing offers
But:
they are not responsible for the final outcome
What happens in the end
The decision becomes a compromise.
But not always a good one.
IT wants one thing
business wants another
finance wants something else
procurement adds its own constraints
And the result is often a solution that:
works on paper
satisfies formal requirements
but fails to deliver real value
The most dangerous scenario
When the decision is formally “correct”:
it matches the requirements
it fits the budget
it wins the tender
But:
it doesn’t solve the actual business problem
Why this becomes a real issue
Because no one truly owns the outcome.
When problems arise:
— IT says: “this was a business decision”
— business says: “this is a technical issue”
— finance says: “we approved the budget”
And accountability disappears.
What successful companies do differently
They don’t just change decisions.
They change the way decisions are made.
1. They assign clear ownership
One person — or a trusted partner — is responsible:
not for a part
but for the outcome
2. They align business and IT
Not:
- “technical part” vs “business part”
But:
a unified decision framework
3. They work with partners — not just processes
A process:
leads to a selection
A partner:
leads to a result
The key insight
The problem is not that multiple people are involved.
The problem is that:
no one owns the system as a whole
If we speak honestly
In IT, the best solution rarely wins.
More often, the winner is:
- the most understandable
- the most convenient
- or the one that looks right on paper
But that is not the same as:
“a solution that actually works”
Final question
When you make IT decisions:
Are you choosing between offers?
Or between future scenarios of your business?