Expectations of Information Technology Leadership

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Consumerization of technology has been well documented.  Technology users now expect “easy, fast, and friendly” and “when I want it, where I want it, how I want it.”  With technology increasingly affordable and accessible, many casual users have become equally (or more) savvy than their IT counterparts. Since IT professionals no longer have the upper hand in managing technology, where does that leave us?

IT must transform itself from being infrastructure-centric to increasingly service oriented. There will always be a key component of infrastructure, but by necessity its scope will go beyond procuring and installing hardware and software. An evolved IT department may also be the pivot point for: 

• Knowledge management. Developing the taxonomy, practices and policies in managing organizational data, information and knowledge.
• Brokering other business services. Vendor management and purchasing, facility management.
• Service request brokering/fulfillment. Creation and process for standard service catalog items.
• Digital property development. External, internal and collaborative digital or web-based properties.
• People and process consulting. Applying proven improvement disciplines, with or without a technology wrapper.
• Workflow design. Improving and enabling work processes with technology to drive consistency and efficiency.
• Security consulting. Working with vendors, clients, and partners to ensure the web of solutions appropriately incorporates risk mitigation strategies.
• Business capability planning and technology platform. Proactive business consulting to support strategic plans with evolving capabilities (e.g. communication & collaboration, workflow, digital service delivery, etc) and the underlying technology required.
• Data analytics. Leverage data sources, internal and external, to provide new insights and services.
• Innovation and product development. Pursuing opportunities for digital offerings and augmentation of existing products and services.

 Carving out a niche as a consultative partner and leveraging information resources will increase the value of the IT department organization-wide.