IT Organization Circa 2017

I met a couple of CIO’s last week that I believe really “get” the fundamental changes that are taking place around us.  One said, “Up till now, it’s all be preparation and rehearsal – the real work of IT is just beginning!  IT is now front and center in just about all aspects of the business!”  The other said, “We are now beginning to literally reinvent the purpose of IT for the business!”

Both CIO’s (one from a major power utility in the US, the other from a financial institution) see a sea change coming, and while they did not use the terms Next Generation Enterprise or Enterprise 2.0, the paradigm of “mass collaboration” and its implications for business do indeed redefine the purpose for IT.  As a consequence, the role of the IT organization, and its critical capabilities and ways of engaging its clients and customers must change dramatically.

One of the best books I’ve read in a while that sets the context for the Next Generation Enterprise is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, by Don Tapscott and Antony D. Williams.  What I found most surprising about this well-researched and thought provoking book is that mass collaboration is already an important part of the business world.  Like most “overnight paradigm shifts,” the shift to mass collaboration has been underway for quite a while.  But its reach, velocity and global impact is going to increase dramatically in the next 5 to 10 years.

Another well researched and thought provoking book I am part way through but can highly recommend is Revolutionary Wealth: How it will be Created and how it will Change our Lives, by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.   I first became a Toffler fan with the publishing of Future Shock in 1970, and especially with The Third Wave, published in 1980.  The Third Wave introduced the term “prosumer” to describe the self-production of things we want to consume.  In the pre-agrarian societies, we were virtually all prosumer.  Toffler argued that the industrial revolution was fueled by separating the acts of production and consumption, an unnatural breach that technology would heal over time.  Every time I use a banking teller machine, manipulate an Excel spreadsheet, create a PowerPoint presentation, I am reminded that I am “prosuming” – conducting activities that not too many years ago involved the work of paid specialists – bank tellers, programmers, graphic artists, and so on.  Prosumption is great!  It is satisfying, convenient, and ultimately productive.

I strongly believe that that the work of the IT organization in Level 3 business-IT maturity is all about creating the environment for IT “Prosumption.”  Teach them to fish, and they will feed themselves for a lifetime.