“An information technology culture is a company's attitude toward investing in technology and business technology as a strategic business differentiator.” says Jerald Murphy.
He goes on to say there are four types of basic IT cultures – here is a brief summary of each…
1. Conservative IT cultures
In this type of IT culture, top leaders see technology as an expense to minimize and, in turn, they have IT departments maximize the use of the technology they possess to get the utmost value out of their technology investments. They don’t see technology as something to provide a competitive advantage, but a cost they want to reduce.
2. Modern IT cultures
This type of IT culture prioritizes cost management and will occasionally invest in new technology but do so more as a cost containment than as a strategic advantage. They will likely invest in automation if it directly reduces costs.
3. Aggressive IT cultures
Business and IT leaders in this type of IT culture actively look for technology to give them an advantage over their competitors and categorize technology spending as a key to moving the company forward. The leaders investigate technology that will deliver a business advantage.
This type of culture always sees spending on technology as an investment, with business and IT leaders who value technology as a business driver that’s essential to establishing and maintaining market leadership. They believe technology will facilitate a transformation of people, processes, and products.