How to Explain Complex Technology Issues to Business Leaders

As expertise grows more and more subtle and sophisticated, it is also turning into extra baffling to enterprise leaders, a lot of whom might have come of age in an period when fax machines and flip telephones have been all the fad. This poses a problem for IT leaders who want wholehearted administration assist to obtain the funding and different sources crucial to information a proposed digital initiative to its profitable conclusion. Here’s a fast have a look at methods IT professionals can talk successfully and productively with enterprise counterparts to their mutual profit.

Focus on the Goal

The only method to clarify a brand new expertise to non-tech-savvy colleagues is to emphasize how the challenge will in the end profit the group. “From a purely business perspective, features and capabilities are secondary,” noticed Chris Carragher, director of expertise for hedge fund agency Kaiju Capital Management. The frequent thread ought to at all times be the group’s development and success, not the interior workings of a particular expertise or system.

Unless it is completely crucial, skip the answer’s technical particulars. “The more detailed one goes into a technology issue, the more nuanced it gets,” famous Prashant Kelker, companion and Americas lead, digital technique and options, at expertise analysis and advisory agency ISG. “The entire [conversation’s] tone changes from discussion to explanation,” he mentioned. “Our non-tech colleagues get the gist, [but] they are more interested in the outcome, the path forward, and the approach to get there.”

Chris Carragher, Kaiju Capital Management

Business leaders usually belief their tech counterparts to efficiently handle and resolve all the required technical particulars. What colleagues most need is assurance that no matter expertise IT is proposing delivers advantages that outweigh capital and working bills. “We need to rise above the technology itself to explain the impact it will have,” Kelker mentioned.

Jerry Kurtz, government vice chairman of insights and knowledge, at IT advisory agency Capgemini North America, additionally confused the significance of specializing in the challenge’s potential enterprise end result and worth. “Rather than getting into the details of the technology, challenge, or solution in technical terms, showcase the outcomes the solution can bring and how they will impact the business as a whole,” he defined. “Once this has been accomplished, it’s time to develop a roadmap to reach the agreed upon target state.”

Analogies Rule

Using analogies rooted in shared experiences is an efficient method to discover a frequent floor with enterprise leaders, suggested Mike Bechtel, chief futurist at enterprise and IT advisory agency Deloitte Consulting. “For example, you can try — and fail — to explain cognitive automation AI/ML by using technically accurate terms, like ‘in-band neural-network executables,’ yet that won’t prevent a non-technical audience from glazing over,” he warned. A greater method is offering an analogy to a generally shared expertise or reference.

Bechtel supplied this instance: “AI was slow and reactive, providing verbose facts and figures from the back seat — sort of like C-3PO annoying Han Solo. Cognitive automation is more like Chewbacca grabbing the controls as an able co-pilot and actually being helpful as opposed to pesky.”

Mike Bechtel, Deloitte Consulting

Justin Rodenbostel, follow lead in open supply software improvement for expertise companies agency SPR Consulting, agreed that utilizing frequent analogies to describe a proposed expertise’s advantages is an efficient method to take when attempting to talk superior ideas in a relatable method. “Software issues, for instance, are often rooted in logic, and because logic-based processing happens constantly in the real world, your audience may find familiar analogies easier to grasp,” he mentioned.

It’s additionally vital to restrict using tech slang when presenting challenge specifics. “Try to describe problems and solutions in plain, layperson terms,” Rodenbostel suggested. “People don’t need a lesson in acronyms or buzzwords to understand whatever concept you’re explaining.” Carragher concurred. “Tech leaders are most effective when they use the organization’s common lingo rather than technical terminology,” he famous.

Finally, keep away from the impulse to rush via challenge specifics. “These days, it’s easy to move fast, so ask permission before moving on to the next topic,” Rodenbostel mentioned. “It’s also easy to get excited or carried away about a particular topic, so always check-in with your audience and confirm they are following your train of thought.”

The Devil’s within the Details

An IT chief who cannot talk complicated expertise ideas in simply comprehensible phrases, dangers failing to persuade enterprise stakeholders of the challenge’s full worth and long-term potential. “This can lead non-tech colleagues to undervalue and underprioritize the situation and, in many cases, be unaware of the larger picture,” Kurtz warned.

Leading with technical terminology can even intimidate non-tech-savvy colleagues, successfully excluding them from the dialog. A little bit advance preparation can stop this drawback. “It’s often constructive to share information in advance of a meeting, using visual aids as a communication tool,” Carragher instructed. “During discussions, it’s also helpful to summarize often and pause for questions.”

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John Edwards is a veteran enterprise expertise journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and quite a few enterprise and expertise publications, together with Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic … View Full Bio

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