In a modern information economy, technology is at the core of how nearly everyone works. The first thing most people do at work is turn on a computer and connect to the internet. Their job will be online, their colleagues too. They’ll be relying on a plethora of technologies to be able to do their job effectively.
Internal Technology refers to the underlying systems that power that work. It’s every piece of technology that doesn’t directly add value to the company but is essential to its function. This is the force-multiplier for the business and an enterprise’s long term success is indelibly linked to its ability to function efficiently and effectively. The best product in the world won’t succeed without a company and systems to support it.
This document aims to outline a generalised approach to what Internal Technology could look like in an organisation.
It’s a function with oversight over all systems that are used to make the business (not the product) function. It is a coalescing of multiple teams in to a broader group that allows for the constituent teams and areas to work together rather than develop siloed and apart.
Those teams touch all aspects of internal systems and would cover:
Fundamentally if there's a technical problem within the organisation then Internal Tech should be there to solve it. Think of it as the technical foil to internal operations.
Long term no. The vision of a working Internal Technology group is to build oversight and common approaches between these different business functions and provide a stronger voice for their technical needs.
At a smaller scale that might mean “replacing” separate first RevOps and IT hires (for example). At a larger scale Internal Technology becomes the common approach and language all these separate teams may use.
This depends on the needs of the rest of the business but here are some strengths of building a function like internal technology.
An org has received a cash injection from a funding round. They want an ability to build out scenarios on how to spend that money to more effectively grow revenue. These kinds of needs are not served by a single aspect of internal technology, to give an example: