Enterprise IT for the 21st Century
Key Insights
- Corporations must adapt to a less global world. Global circumstances have changed greatly in the last five years as protectionist regulations, increased nationalism, the pandemic, security fears and “just-in-time” supply chain problems, augmented by the special case of China, are reversing years of globalization and free trade.
- Evolving business conditions are shifting the focus of enterprises from optimization and cost-efficiency to risk mitigation and resiliency. After years of centralization with an emphasis on standardization, scale and cost-efficiency, IT groups will therefore have to de-centralize systems and deliver operational capabilities more flexibly to future-proof their enterprises.
- Increased cyber threats, as well as CIO credibility resulting from the handling of the pandemic, are giving CIOs more board-level visibility and trust. This visibility is opening a set of opportunities for IT leaders to force replacement of obsolete infrastructure/applications and the ability to control, or at least influence, key aspects of OT and digital transformation.
- Technological trends are shaping a new IT, lighter than in the past and more focused on orchestration. The rise of cloud, AI, XaaS and other technological advancements are changing the tech market, and the consequences (e.g. lack of product customizability) are pushing IT groups to further evolve from a systems operator into ecosystem orchestrators of technology, vendors, and processes.
- IT can no longer be considered something different from the rest of the company: the new IT should aim at fostering new business opportunities and enabling business strategy at the speed of business. This change is already driving new structures and will require emphasis in skills including architectural/organizational design, joint IT/business teams, and particularly proficiency in managing complexity.
- IT talent management continues to be a big global challenge and is so important to do well. Companies are challenged to compete with the omnipresent digital incumbents, but there are some key skills to focus on...and new solutions enabled by the gig economy and the use of automation and AI Ops are emerging to help.