The role of IT in the enterprise is changing - and it's changing fast. In fact, when talking about enterprise IT today, the discussion is no longer about "IT" but about "business". Enterprise IT is rapidly changing from a landscape of servers, networks, PCs and software to one of services that enable the business processes that business managers demand.
Cloud computing is accelerating this trend. Most of the enterprise IT "stack" is now available via cloud models in the form of infrastructure, platforms and applications as-a-service. But as the cloud delivery model is maturing, we are now seeing the next layers being delivered via cloud models as well: business processes, consulting, design and management.
The end-game of this trend is an IT framework where business managers can fully manage, procure and consume all the services, processes and systems they require in order to run their business in the best and most agile way possible. And in this framework, none of these will be seen as or consumed as "IT" but merely seen as necessary services.
Whether the company opts for traditional on-premises deployment or a private, hybrid or public cloud model, more and more services will become externally sourced in the coming years. This means that the key CIO responsibilities will move beyond the traditional ones of validating suppliers in terms of availability, performance and compliance. The future role of the CIO will be much more business focused and will become more about managing contracts and relationships. So even for the CIO, technology itself is becoming less and less of a focal point.
However, while technology may not be the focal point of this framework, technology is clearly needed to make it work. Whether it runs on a private cloud, hybrid or public clouds or even on more traditional IT platforms, technology is at the core of this transition towards IT being seen as any number of services.
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