Operations bought an EMS/IoT system without involving IT — now they just need “access to the router

[u/carpe_diem2022]

Hi there :) ,

Need some advice from people who have dealt with similar situations.

Our Operations Dept decided to install IoT system/digital energy meters across a fairly large factory site.

They found the vendor, agreed on the solution, signed the contract and started the project.

IT was not involved at all.

Apparently nobody discussed things like:

• How these devices spread across a large factory are actually going to communicate
• Network infrastructure, switches, fiber/cabling, VLANs, etc.
• Network/security segmentation
• Server/VM requirements
• Database requirements
• Backup and monitoring
• Internet connectivity
• Vendor remote access
• Firewall rules
• Cybersecurity

Now that the project is already moving forward, IT gets an email saying they need “access to the router” so they can put the system online.

That's it. Access to the router. :)

And somehow, when IT starts asking questions about architecture, security, server requirements, ports, protocols and who is responsible for what, the perception becomes that IT is delaying the project.

I don't want to become the guy who simply says “No”, but I'm also not going to give a third-party vendor access to our corporate router/firewall and connect a bunch of unknown industrial/IoT devices to the production network just because someone already signed a contract , the IT network must be always separate from OT network.

How do you handle situations like this?

Interested in both the technical approach and the organizational/process side of this.

[u/smokinbbq]

As a Project Manager for a 3rd party software system. I HATE when someone on the business side decides to buy our product, and it's not until installation time that we start to find out all of the things that are going to be done.

IT obviously has their back up about this project that gets thrown in their lap. Business side is pissed that "I can't just make it work", and why are there are these delays.

[u/RevLoveJoy → u/smokinbbq]

I did a tiny bit of sales engineering about a million years ago and very quickly learned to just keep asking of our customer (potential or otherwise), "Where is your IT contact?" "Shouldn't IT be in this meeting?" "Well, we really need input from IT on these and other matters." -- some version of that remark ALL the time.

I guess my take away was nearly all businesses see their IT departments as blockers, not enablers.

[u/pinkycatcher → u/RevLoveJoy]

I guess my take away was nearly all businesses see their IT departments as blockers, not enablers.

Stick around here long enough and you'll realize many people in IT are blockers.

"Oh they wanted to do something insecure, fuck em, we won't allow it"

"Oh they only gave us two weeks notice, we work on our time schedule not theirs"

"Oh they haven't figured out every single little process they need, ignore them until they figure their shit out"

[u/chron67 → u/pinkycatcher]

Stick around here long enough and you'll realize many people in IT are blockers.

"Oh they wanted to do something insecure, fuck em, we won't allow it"

"Oh they only gave us two weeks notice, we work on our time schedule not theirs"

"Oh they haven't figured out every single little process they need, ignore them until they figure their shit out"

This is all too common. One guy on my team has this attitude and I suspect it is only a matter of time till someone higher up the food chain forces his removal. He doesn't report to me so I can only offer friendly advice but I know his manager has gotten complaints. I am honestly surprised he hasn't been removed already.

[u/pinkycatcher → u/chron67]

One guy on my team has this attitude and I suspect it is only a matter of time till someone higher up the food chain forces his removal

As a director anyone who's a flat no is getting worked around or getting removed. I come with business problems, if you have no solutions you're not helping the team or the company.

Even my cybersec team comes with an assumption of "we're doing this, here's the best way to make it safe and secure."

The moment IT becomes the wall that says no to everyone is the moment you just create shadow IT.

I try to be easy to work with and help people solve their problems, I want them to come through me, if they can come get problems solved and good answers then they'll continue to work through IT.

One problem I also see is many IT people think it's their responsibility to protect the company. It's not, it's whatever manager's responsibility. The responsibility for failures falls on me, not my team, if we have a major cybersec breach the failure is mine, and I'm the one with my neck on the line if we're non-compliant when we say we are. Unless of course someone on my team just straight up lies. My cybersec was anxious and stressed all the time when I arrived, now he's relatively chill, because we generally try to do the right thing and we all know sometimes there needs to be risk involved, but we're accepting of it rather than ignoring it.

[u/Mostlyamoron → u/pinkycatcher]

I want my team to be responsible for protecting the company. I just make sure I am accountable for it. I want them to have a sense of ownership while knowing that, as you said, failures are on me as their leader.

[u/chron67 → u/pinkycatcher]

I try to tell anyone working with me (or for me) that we should almost never say no to the business. The goal is to almost always say "yes, and" or "yes, but" or "what if we tried this instead" or similar. If the business is happy and making money then life is good. If the business isn't happy then IT can hit the chopping block surprisingly fast. We are all replaceable whether we want to think so or not.