Boardroom debate: IT ch-ch-ch-ch-changes to golden years
In my recent FT piece I drew a parallel with influential musician David Bowie. His career has spanned 5 decades, which is about the same duration as the modern IT industry. Unlike Bowie the IT industry has changed very little over that time. Same old problems:
- Lack of IT representation at board level
- User-technologist distrust.
But some new trends are emerging:
- IT is becoming simpler
- Vendors are working with users to bypass the IT function.
So the IT department has a choice, either become irrelevant or change. My suggestion is that the CIO:
- Accepts that IT is becoming commoditised and pushes this down the food chain to the utility vendors
- Accepts that web services is a reality and manages these silo solutions as part of a cohesive enterprise architecture.
- Takes every opportunity to move his role to that of Chief Change Officer rather than just Chief Information Officer.
I am curious to know what your views are on this. Do you feel the IT industry as we know it has peaked in terms of the value it can offer the business?
