A Look at IT in the Next Five Years

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A Look at IT in the Next Five Years
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Chapters Topics

• The Changing IT Function
• The IT Organization in Five Years Time
• IT Mission
• IT Function
• IT Management
• IT Self-Image
• External Controls
• Internal Controls
• IT Staffing
• Systems Development
• Hardware/Software Management
• In the Workplace

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INTRODUCTION
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• Yet another revolution has begun in the field of
  information systems. When it is over, IS
  departments will be dismantled. Independent
  software specialists will dominate the
  development of systems, programming and other
  software. Users will completely control
  individual information systems.
• Dearden, 1987
• Business processes will take center stage in
  eBusinesses, forcing the IT organization as we
  know it to disappear. Technology management will
  become the responsibility of business process
  owners -- both inside and outside the
  corporation
• Cameron, 2000

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• IT department faces extinction
• Marron, 2000
• Are CIOs obsolete?
• Maruca, 2000
• Demise of IT?

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• Shortage of IT Staff?
• Through 2004, market demand for relevant and
  specialized IT skills and know how will continue
  to outstrip supply.
• By 2006, nearly half the workers in developed
  global economies will be employed by industries
  that either produce IT or use IT intensively.
• The GartnerGroup
• It has been found that the scope and depth of the
  CIO role is expanding, the status of IT is rising
  in most organizations, and that the CIOs formal
  power is increasing.
• Maruca, 2000

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• Challenges facing IT
• Shaping the Organization
• 5 Year Term
• Accurate
• Further would be difficult ineffective

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THE CHANGING IT FUNCTION
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• Pressures for Continuing Change
• It is evident that a more sophisticated
  mechanism for delivering IS to the organization
  is now required. Like the process of retooling
  an outdated factory to turn out products faster
  and more efficiently, the IS function must
  undergo a change that is no less comprehensive if
  it is to fulfill its organizational mandatethe
  risk of not doing so is increasing inadequacy and
  eventual obsolescence
• (McKeen and Smith, 1996)

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• More Recently
• IT needs to transform itself, the way it
  operates, and the way it does business. Those
  who are not successful will disappear
• (Marron, 2000)

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• Pressure Stems from Two Sources
• The changing business environment
• The changing technology landscape

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Ten Years Ago

• Non existent and unpredicted
• Globalization
• Merger Mania
• Deregulation
• Electronic Commerce
• Relentless improvements in all forms of
  technology led to huge a variety of applications
  that have continually surprised and challenged IT
  and business managers
• Everyone agrees that change is going to increase

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IT's growing list of responsibilities
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• New Positions in Managing IT
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• office of the CIO
• senior people with specific responsibilities

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THE IT ORGANIZATION IN FIVE YEARS TIME
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IT in five years will be different from the
previous two decades
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IT Mission
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• Early 1990s
• IT organization leading or driving corporate
  change
• Re-engineering
• Technology can change how company processes work
• IT used to eliminate time-honored practices
• Must Change technology AND supporting human
  practices
• Concept IT as Corporate Change Agent or Change
  Manager
• Corporate change becomes increasingly significant

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• 90s change focused around processes
• Internet open new possibilities
• business across organizational boundaries
• 2000 -- radical transformation of organizations
  themselves
• Technology can enhance inter-enterprise
  effectiveness
• Inter-organization ventures
• New Inter-enterprise Business structure emergence
• IT will facilitate corporate transformations
• IT staff will identify possibilities establish
  mechanisms

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• Internally businesses will look different
• Improving
• applications of technology
• Integration
• knowledge
• Need for rapid response to external pressures
• Broadening of ITs change management
  responsibilities
• ITs mission will grow
• Expect IT to be front and center in the drive to
  transform almost every aspect of business

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IT Function
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• 1990s
• IT organizations began to work with business
  managers at higher and higher levels
• Corporate re-engineering -- new mandate
• IT Organization broader corporate perspective
• Businesses cut layers of management
• CIOs IT staff increasingly strategic role
• 2000
• Over ¾ of CIOs are on the board or the executive
  committee of their respective organizations

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• Next Five Years
• IT increasingly valued for unique perspective
• Corporation
• Technology
• facilitate strategy development and mobilize
  strategy
• 2 IT Key Contributions to strategy formation
• Internet electronic commerce
• Become more strategic about technology policy
• New strategic functions
• Require IT staff and management to develop
  competencies, such as business acumen and
  leadership skills
• IT will have direct impact on corporate bottom
  line
• IT systems will interact directly with customers
• IT function will become more outward-looking and
  concerned with business value

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IT Management
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• The tone of management is changing
• 1980s
• IT tried to react to users needs
• Creating support functions and client-centered
  methodologies
• 1990s
• Users expect IT managers to be proactive
• Constantly improving, maintaining, upgrading etc
• 2000
• Even more will be expected of IT managers
• Expected to anticipate coming trends
• get ahead and stay ahead of the curve

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• IT Managers have to increase environmental
  scanning skills
• IT Managers will have to develop their research
  and development capabilities
• IT managers need more in-depth knowledge of
  business
• Develop new links with parts of business
• Monitor customer feed-back and business trends
• Assist business to develop better tools

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IT Self-Image
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• Key to performance
• 1980s
• IT as a service provider to business community
• Designed processes, structure metrics
  accordingly
• 1990s
• Major role facilitator of business
• Providing technology and tools that businesses
  need
• PC work-benches or suites of software
• Help users to find consultants and outsource
  non-core functions
• IT organizations became coordinators of
  technology delivery

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• Next Five Years
• self-image change to accommodate more active
  business role
• IT will become more of a catalyst in identifying
  and delivering new forms of value to business

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External Controls
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• 1980s
• IT functions had a wide range of relationships
• Very few controls and standards established
• 1990s
• IT functions adopted federal model of governance
• User groups free to make IT decision until they
  wanted to use the corporate infrastructure
• Need for corporate IT policy standards and
  controls
• Control over security, communications, and data
  applications

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• Next Five Years
• Need for corporate standards will grow as
  companies pursue greater levels of integration
• Establishing standards and controls across the
  network of businesses and customers
• Federated network of standards and controls to
  which all groups must ascribe
• Concerns for security and privacy

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Internal Controls
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• 1980s
• Fascination with IT performance metrics
• 1990s
• IT and business departments have been
  increasingly held accountable for what a system
  contributes to the bottom line of the business
• 2000
• ITs future will be the value that it delivers to
  the enterprise
• Companies will leverage existing people,
  technologies, and information to deliver value

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• Next Five Years
• IT management will begin to recognize that
  companies can frequently exploit current
  applications of technology more extensively
• IT organizations will look for ways to use
  existing infrastructure and applications
• Delivering value will come as a team effort

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IT Staffing
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• 1980s
• Different specialists developed as technology
  became more complex
• 1990s
• More skilled generalist
• Need for specialists in hot areas still
  remained
• Staffing IT will continue to be a growing problem

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• Next Five Years
• Essential for IT organizations to develop
  individuals professional skills and recognize
  different career paths for different types of IT
  staff
• Increasing demand for soft skills
• Relationship management, strategic analytical
  thinking
• IT staff will evolve into business technologists
• There will also remain need for technical
  specialists

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Systems Development
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• 1990s
• Business placed increasing amounts of pressure on
  IT organizations to develop more adaptable
  systems in shorter delivery cycles
• Systems developed in a more evolutionary
  fashion
• Development teams composed of equal numbers of
  users and technical staff
• 2000
• Systems development will increasingly become a
  matter of assembling system pieces
• Knowledge management will become important and
  development effort will revolve around
  manipulating corporate and customer information

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• The Next Five Years
• Efforts will be made to standardize corporate
  data
• Companies will add more multimedia features
• Retrofitting existing corporate systems
• Internet accessibility, etc
• IT organizations have to modify their dev teams
• IT Staff required for their big picture view

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Hardware/Software Management
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• Yesterday
• Hardware/software management increasingly
  confusing for IT Managers
• Infrastructure was seen as a technical decision
  to be left to experts
• Today
• IT organizations interact with network of vendors
• Tomorrow
• IT managers will pay more attention to developing
  strategy
• Organizations will explore and develop options
• Risk management will become more refined
• Technology strategy as a portfolio of options

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In the Workplace
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• 1990s
• IT organizations developed an automated office
• Ensured all users connected electronically
• Policies Standards established
• Out of date due as the internet grew
• Next Five Years
• Internet will be the catalyst for changing the
  workplace
• Offices will open up to outside world
• Remote Workers, Mobile Workers, Networked Workers
• Companies will become boundary-less
• IT busy enabling company functions and office
  support
• Arrival of the virtual office

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CONCLUSION
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• Explored the ongoing evolution of IT
• Identified how IT will differ in the future
• IT is becoming central to corporate strategy
• Primary role in implementing and mobilizing a
  firms business and technical strategic visions
• Anticipating the companys future direction
• IT as a catalyst for new ways of delivering
  service
• New ways of developing systems and partnering
  with other companies to deliver value