And when IT is as dependable as plumbing
and when it doesn't require upgrading and changes constantly, then they might be in the same category.
When the technology becomes as static, the two might be comparable.
Further, does plumbing enhance productivity? Does it make staff more efficient? (beyond the obvious scatalogical comments, that is.) Does plumbing effect how productive the sales force is? How the sales force communicates with customers? Help workers to cooperate? Enter orders? Keep track of inventory, help evaluate how the business runs? Do changes in plumbing effect the very way business is done? If so, yeah, you might have plumbers on staff - at least if you wanted to remain competitive with everybody else that has plumbers on staff. Otherwise, you could always outsource to a plumbing consultant at great cost, or offshore, still adding layers of management.
No, management of information & data doesn't map well to management of waste. Or management of any physical object, for that matter.
