Business and IT Integration: Where Tech and Strategy Meet
We warned you there'd be a lot of 2007 year-in-review and 2008 predictions posts. Here we go again. Verizon Business has identified 10 hot business technology trends for 2008, including CIO as a business strategist:
CIOs will take on an even more pivotal role in determining how to invest capital most effectively to help their companies reduce costs, increase productivity and achieve a wide range of corporate objectives. CIOs also will be responsible for making supply-chain management decisions and environmental improvements. Today's successful organization is reaching new heights through the tight integration of business and technology. By presenting a strategic point of view from the technology side, CIOs have become today's top business strategists, and with this comes a change in the boardroom.The business-IT integration topic got a lot of press this year (The Wall Street Journal's "CIO Jobs Morph from Tech Support into Strategy," Computer Weekly's CIO Interview Series, "The Changing Role of CIO," CIO Insight's "The CIO's Role: Findings" ). Business Week suggested:
The information technology departments once seen as back-room cost centers are becoming key players in the execution of innovation, and hence, the creation of value in the new marketplace.The challenge, however:
Typically, IT departments are tactical rather than strategic, reactive rather that proactive, and isolated rather than integrated. Few in the IT ranks speak 'business model,' which is unfortunate given that so much customer and shareholder value is dependent on IT solutions to facilitate critical network connections.We're interested in hearing how you're affected by this shift. How integrated are IT and business at your organization? Do the tech execs already exert influence beyond the realm of technology, and if not, are they prepared to?
(Tech Guy image courtesy of insidetwit, cc 2.0)