Lost in translation?!: the need for a boundary spanner between business and it

Misunderstandings between business and IT resulting from the so-called communication gap are a well-known challenge for the IS field. Based on the concept of joint attention developed in cognitive research this gap can possibly be bridged by boundary spanners acting as knowledge brokers and translators between the different communities of business users and IT experts. To provide a first understanding of those interfaces we present the results of expert interviews describing the development and role of boundary spanners in the corporate context. To arrive at a more detailed view of their abilities and characteristics we tested their skill profile using a skill set based on the EUCIP (European Certification of Informatics Professionals). We come up with 25 common skills of both participants important for the interface function between business and IT.