Credibility: it’s hard won, and easily lost.

In a BYOD world, IT needs to earn back credibility with the rest of the enterprise.

So, do IT people in your organization show up to meetings with their devices?

I’m not talking here about leading the charge to diversity. I’m talking about coming as an equal.

You have your pad, smartphone or ultralight wireless machine right there on the table.

You know how to use it — and you use it in helpful ways right in the meeting.

It’s loaded with necessary diagrams, facts and figures, useful tools.

You’ve made your repositories easily accessible on the fly.

You’ve got micro-decks ready to go to explain policy, standards, etc. — and your hookup cable is in your pocket.

And … and this is most important … you know how to leave the technology alone.

You’re not checking your email constantly through the meeting. You take notes in the fastest way (which might well be pen-and-paper).

Nothing like having taken paper notes for an hour, then using the camera to image the page into a scanning/character recognition app.

It shows you value your time, and theirs — and understand how to integrate the electronic world with the physical.

IT professionals ought to be the masters of technology and how to be most productive with it. (It’s the unstated assumption every business colleague holds.)

Few IT organizations equip their people for this, set up the IT work environment to support it, or train their staff in how to handle client interactions for maximum effect.

Getting your business colleagues to take direction (in an era when bucking your reins is cheap and easy) comes from credibility and respect, not from policies and enforcement.

These interactions are also opportunities to plant more seeds to bind the business closer to IT.

Are you, for instance, using a wiki for project status and reporting rather than word processing documents? The idea of a team document may spark other ideas when they see you actively using these methods.

Are you, for instance, a user of information during meetings, to deal in facts rather than memories or opinions? Do you quickly Google when you need to, run a query to get data, have dashboards and other business tools at your fingertips.

Most IT organizations have practically nothing to buttress their case in real time, and the point of BYOD for the business is real-time access to facts and knowledge.

If you can show that the IT organization is a 21st century business, your views carry more weight. You get willing followers of the directions you set.

You’ll control without having to exert control.

The BYOD phenomenon could revolutionize IT — if you get “with it”.