Jason Hiner over at TechRepublic wrote a blog the other day entitled What the IT department will look like in 2015. He’s got some interesting views: IT departments will be smaller, more decentralized, rely on more consultants, and focus their resources “on software, the cloud, and mobile devices,” he writes.
Where I take issue with what he writes is in the general expectation that IT departments are going to devolve into a smaller organization of significantly lesser importance within the organization. The real challenge–and the real opportunity–for IT leaders is harness the potential of IT to the evolution of the business. I agree with Hiner when he says that IT is going to focus on software, the cloud, and mobile devices–but they’re not merely going to be ensuring that software in the cloud runs properly and that mobile devices are properly tracked and connected. They’re going to be focusing on how the combination of software, the cloud, and mobile devices can enable the organization to operate in a completely new way, how it can engage customers more effectively, compete more effectively, open new markets, and more.
The IT manager that can facilitate this kind of business transformation is going to earn him or herself a place at the table where the big decisions about the future of the organization are made. Indeed, the IT department’s ability to enable business transformation through software, the cloud, and mobile devices is going to elevate the importance of IT. It may be smaller and leaner, and yes it will rely on automation and outsourced service suppliers to take care of the mundane issues–but it could play a far more important role than ever before.
I want to emphasize could. IT can only take a seat at the Big Table, can only be seen as a peer in the creation of business strategy, if it can get its arms around the challenges posed by software, the cloud, and mobile devices today. IT leaders around the world want to think strategically, want to bring their knowledge of the potential of technology to those business discussions, but rarely do they have time. Their organizations are up to their eyebrows in the mundane tasks. They need to deploy tools to automate more effectively.They need tools to help them deliver their own services more efficiently and effectively. They need to know how to support the plethora of mobile devices that are emerging everywhere–and they need to know how to make the most of those mobile devices themselves in order to deliver their own services more efficiently and effectively.
This is at the heart of what we at ManageEngine think of as real-time IT. It’s the ability to manage the day to day tasks more effectively, the ability to deliver IT services more efficiently and responsively. Only when an IT organization can do this can it legitimately claim that seat at the Big Table.
So that’s where we see IT going, and that’s why we’re focusing on building the tools that IT organizations need to operate more efficiently and effectively. That vision of real time IT drives everything we do. I agree with Hiner when he says that IT organizations are going to be smaller and that their work will be very different. But I also see potential for huge gains for IT in terms of visibility and importance. For those IT organizations that succeed today in streamlining their operations and getting an upper hand on the IT chaos in their organizations, 2015 could be a very good year indeed.
Where I take issue with what he writes is in the general expectation that IT departments are going to devolve into a smaller organization of significantly lesser importance within the organization. The real challenge–and the real opportunity–for IT leaders is harness the potential of IT to the evolution of the business. I agree with Hiner when he says that IT is going to focus on software, the cloud, and mobile devices–but they’re not merely going to be ensuring that software in the cloud runs properly and that mobile devices are properly tracked and connected. They’re going to be focusing on how the combination of software, the cloud, and mobile devices can enable the organization to operate in a completely new way, how it can engage customers more effectively, compete more effectively, open new markets, and more.
The IT manager that can facilitate this kind of business transformation is going to earn him or herself a place at the table where the big decisions about the future of the organization are made. Indeed, the IT department’s ability to enable business transformation through software, the cloud, and mobile devices is going to elevate the importance of IT. It may be smaller and leaner, and yes it will rely on automation and outsourced service suppliers to take care of the mundane issues–but it could play a far more important role than ever before.
I want to emphasize could. IT can only take a seat at the Big Table, can only be seen as a peer in the creation of business strategy, if it can get its arms around the challenges posed by software, the cloud, and mobile devices today. IT leaders around the world want to think strategically, want to bring their knowledge of the potential of technology to those business discussions, but rarely do they have time. Their organizations are up to their eyebrows in the mundane tasks. They need to deploy tools to automate more effectively.They need tools to help them deliver their own services more efficiently and effectively. They need to know how to support the plethora of mobile devices that are emerging everywhere–and they need to know how to make the most of those mobile devices themselves in order to deliver their own services more efficiently and effectively.
This is at the heart of what we at ManageEngine think of as real-time IT. It’s the ability to manage the day to day tasks more effectively, the ability to deliver IT services more efficiently and responsively. Only when an IT organization can do this can it legitimately claim that seat at the Big Table.
So that’s where we see IT going, and that’s why we’re focusing on building the tools that IT organizations need to operate more efficiently and effectively. That vision of real time IT drives everything we do. I agree with Hiner when he says that IT organizations are going to be smaller and that their work will be very different. But I also see potential for huge gains for IT in terms of visibility and importance. For those IT organizations that succeed today in streamlining their operations and getting an upper hand on the IT chaos in their organizations, 2015 could be a very good year indeed.
Raj
