This is according to Martin Prendergast, CEO of Concorde Solutions who argues that recent research from the Cloud Industry Forum*, which indicates that hybrid IT is the future of IT estates, means that it will be the CIO who functions as the IT department withers.
Martin Prendergast explains: As businesses move away from traditional enterprise software brands and platforms and adopt open source, cloud-based apps or mobile technology as alternatives, IT procurement frequently bypasses the IT department,
This may add credence to the claims that the IT department is on its way out, but when it comes to adopting technology or implementing changes, businesses must ensure that the principle of remaining in control and keeping a holistic view of their software estate remains the same.
Amongst the biggest trends we are seeing is the unstoppable rise of consumer IT, which is consistently outstripping enterprise IT in terms of usability. Business users are using powerful applications deployed by the cloud and they are increasingly expecting all applications to be the same. It is simply not the case for enterprise IT,
Married to this is the perception of elastic capability to expand to meet needs and then contract as needed and all on a pay-as-you-go model. Throw into this heady mix the frustrations of lengthy waits due to long development schedules and you have a huge challenge for traditional IT departments. The nightmare scenario for many is already here as business units are able to deal directly with service providers who will deliver fit-for-purpose, pay-as-you-go apps with minimum upfront capex and you can clearly see the argument that the IT department is heading down the same path as the Dodo, he continued.
There is an argument that there must be a total refocus from the technology of IT to the information of IT, and that the new breed of CIOs need to specifically focus on designing and developing services that understand, exploit and consume the information of the organisation. This is the core evolution of the CIO as it increasingly aligns with the needs and strategic aspirations of the business.
Martin continued: Its a big challenge for businesses to manage the number of desktops, devices, and numerous cloud services they have adopted; while at the same time trying to understand how these changes to their software environment will impact on usage, or alter their licensing requirements. It may seem like chaos, but making use of solutions such as Business Intelligence can deliver that much-needed clarity,
With the help of Business Intelligence (BI), through tools such as Core Control from Concorde, businesses can uncover the areas where risk and exposure are high, and can further deliver a complete picture of the IT environment to assist confident decision making around IT questions; for example, choosing a software vendor. When it comes to BYOD, enterprises can use BI to their advantage to track how many devices are currently accessing their network and what type of software they are using, he continued.
This kind of usage audit helps to ensure that as a business, you are being charged the right amount by your vendor. For example, you can check whether you are being charged for the correct amount of software used, rather than the number of devices that are connected to the network.
Martin concluded: When alls said and done, predicting the demise of the IT department, in the face of a complex and dynamic technology ecosystem may be somewhat premature. When it comes to maximising value from investments, the IT department still has a vital part to play.
The CIO headache list (Cloud Industry Forum findings)
Specific findings that give todays CIO a headache include:
- Most companies are already hybrid in some shape or form. 86% of organisations have on-premise applications, 47% have hosted or managed services, 27% SaaS, 22% colocation services and 19% have private Clouds
- Other practical constraints identified by businesses as issues that impact their choice of deployment model relate to the levels of integration between applications, the degree of flexibility in scale of use required over time and the perception of risk associated with the sensitivity of the data
- Avoiding data replication was cited by 41% of organisations when asked what the biggest challenge they faced in managing IT across multiple deployment models
- Managing data protection was referenced by 39%, having a single view of the IT estate was raised by 38%, mitigating costs at 37% and enabling data transfer and interoperability by 34%
- 67% or organisations are seeking to operate a single governance model regardless of IT deployment models used. 32% believe that they have this practice in operation today but only 5% have a unified management platform today.
- 85% of organisations want their IT department to maintain overall control of the entire IT stack, regardless of platform
- 79% want a single monitoring solution to oversee all IT operations, but only 30% perceive that they have this capability today