Technology teams are stakeholders, not cost centers

The definition of a stakeholder is: a person with an interest or concern in something, esp. a business.

Currently, technology teams are looked at as cost centers. With the definition above, I argue that technology teams are stakeholders, not cost centers, and should be viewed that way by the business and the technology leadership.

The reason I say this is because there is a symbiotic relationship. Given the scenario a business is dependent on a technology team, technology teams cannot be present without support of the business.

As a result, technology teams should view themselves as stakeholders, in which they are providing value back to the business, which would hopefully grow through technology product and operational efforts ( see http://acceleweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/product-oriented-technologists-vs.html). From there, investments occur back into the technology team in terms of employment, growth, higher budgets, increased compensation/incentives, and business knowledge/understanding. This allows for an increased demand for technologists at the organization level, and in turn, at the industry level, which raises the value of technologists as a whole.

As a result, I view technology teams as stakeholders, not a cost center. With this lens, the way a technology team member views themselves individually changes dramatically, which I would hope increases productivity and ROI from the technology teams out there. If the teams understand that they are providing value back to the business, instead of just a cost center that bleeds dollars, I think there would be higher motivation from the team itself to do better.