How will you run an IT department when the IT department no longer exists -- at least in a single location? John Brandon at InfoWorld sees just that kind of shift going on:
[IT] will shift from a department that manages cloud services to a cloud service itself. Bob Janssen, CTO of RES Software, a company that makes Windows desktop management software, says the end-users of today are the last generation of corporate workers who can tell how and where IT is operating. The next generation won't even know. Those workers will have ties with about 150 other workers (on average); they grew up analog and learned digital.
That means that by 2020, CIOs will manage far fewer people than they do today. “The reality is that computing is becoming much more autonomous, requiring less dependence on human intervention for systems to run correctly,” writes Brandon. Things like building security, identity management and even emergency response will be controlled by artificial intelligence. A few more predictions:
- Cyber warfare will turn CIOs into generals, with Internet neutrality crumbling and national firewalls going up.
- “Bring Your Own Device” will be the norm.
- CIOs will finally become true business thought leaders.
- Analytics will be far more important than they are today.
It's only eight years away. Are you ready for a future that looks this different? Tell us in the comments below.
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