The IT Merchant

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -M. Ghandi 

As Information Technology professionals, we provide valuable insights to business through the mind and perspective of a Technologist. Whether you are a Software Engineer or a Network Administrator, a manager in QA or the CIO, you bring a unique perspective and service-delivery to this organization.

Working in the retail world, I am surrounded by merchants. These merchants are the professionals that from a very distinct and trained eye, with skills either learned and or innate have the ability and desire to view the business through a very distinct lens. 

A lens of empathy for the customer experience, a lens of the narrative of the product, a lens of a service orientated culture and state of mind and lens of pride in what service and product they offer. They are traditional merchants in the classical sense of the word, service orientated and storytellers with a “customer-first” mind set. 

As I reflect on the role of the Technologist in this merchant culture, I look at our charter and our role in the organization and I asked a simple question. 

Is IT as a function, the enterprise version of the traditional merchant? 

As an IT professional, we have a passion for building solutions, we form narratives about the proper application of Technology, we have instincts we rely on to develop good products, we are service-orientated and we have a “yes” and “Get it done” culture for our clients. We aim to please and drive results.  We take extreme pride in seeing our work being used to the betterment of other parts of the organization through productivity, increase revenue or overall efficiency. We solve problems and identify issues to focus on.  We are service-orientated to the core, but we do strive to be partners as well and tell the story about how our “goods” can indeed be used for better. 

It would seem that the modern IT professional, does have a characteristics similar to the merchant, but of the enterprise. 

Stephen Gillett