IT has traditionally had three broad categories of functions:
setting technical strategy
directions for the company, building and
supporting business applications, and assembling and supporting the company's technical
infrastructure. Although each of these functions
remains relevant and necessary, the concept that they are best
performed by an internal IT organization is becoming demonstrably
obsolete.
Let's be honest -- how many IT organizations build everything from
scratch anymore? It's time to
view IT in a new light. Moving beyond our
traditional notions, we find a powerful and dynamic organization poised for an exciting
future.
A New View of IT
If we think of IT as defined by corporate boundaries, it is
shrinking. But if we view IT
as a sum of the functions it provides, it
has been growing in a fast but distributed fashion. The modern IT organization is a
collaborative "super organization" superimposed across
corporate boundaries. It has become a collection of functions,
handled by many different types of organizations that are
adept at performing those functions. Brilliant programmers creating
state-of-the-art applications from scratch still exist, but
they live within a software vendor or a consulting firm's development
center. When a company outsources a business process such
as payroll, the role of the payroll application maintainer is not eliminated; it shifts
outside of the company.
A New Role for IT
IT's three basic functions still exist, but the internal IT
organization will be the
overseer, rather than the implementer, of
those functions. Although large IT organizations may continue to support specialized
development and support skills within some areas,
most organizations will specialize in the facilitation and administration
of corporate technology needs. To succeed in this new
role, IT must become expert at:
* Setting technical strategy direction. Internal IT professionals
will not have to be the
experts on all technologies, but they will have
to understand enough about technology and trends to advise business
executives and identify the best sources for in-depth assistance.
* Managing projects and programs. IT must expand its current program
and project management skills
to enable it to better manage initiatives
that span internal and external organizations. Many IT
organizations have already developed program management capabilities
from year-2000 efforts and/or ERP implementations.
* Managing relationships. Since the IT "super organization"
involves many
different internal and external entities, IT must become skilled
at the nuances of managing third-party relationships. IT managers
must become adept at sourcing, negotiating, and administering
contracts and service-level agreements with potential partners
at local, national, and international levels.
* Setting and administering standards. In a world of external
partners, common systems, and
shared IT resources, standards become
paramount. They speed development and ensure that components
provided by different partners integrate as intended. As
program managers and guardians of their company's technology assets, the IT organization
must define, select, and enforce the standards
needed to ensure the integrity of their efforts.
A New Role for the CIO
The CIOs of the coming decade must view themselves as managers of
virtual organizations that
extend well beyond the walls of their corporation.
In addition to setting technology directions for their own
company, they must become more deeply involved with their most important partners. Since the
bulk of their resources will come from
sources external to IT, the CIO must become adept at directing and optimizing the
performance of those resources.
The developing model of IT is a virtual organization with resources
far beyond those of a
traditional IT organization. Internal IT professionals
are the program managers who direct this organization to
meet their company's objectives.
