In their own words: CIO visions about the future of in-house IT organizations

ABSTRACT

This research investigated CIOs'view of the changes driving and occurring in their in-house IT organizations. Results of interviews with 50 CIOs and IT leaders from 22 organizations in Canada and the U.S. suggest three main drivers of change for in-house IT organizations: rapid strategic business change, pervasive IT with an experienced user community, and e-business and technology complexity. These drivers are creating changes in all parts of the IT organization: structure and roles, application development, technology architectures, and skills and knowledge of IT practitioners. According to CIOs, their virtual, global IT organizations need to move even closer towards the strategic centre of the company, requiring increased business knowledge, improved ability to influence and negotiate, and a renewed focus on standardized architectures, metrics, and value creation.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.0 General

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION
      K.7.2 Organizations

Keywords:
IT knowledge, IT organization, IT skills, future of IT department