"We need just Information; Vendors can keep the Tech"

Michael Krigsman predicts end of IT –

“Since the days of punch cards, IT has believed itself to be guardian of precious computing resources against attacks from non-technical barbarians known as “users.” This arrogant attitude, born of once-practical necessity in the era of early data centers, reflects inability to adapt to present-day realities. Such attitudes, combined with recent technological and social changes, are pushing IT to share the fate of long-extinct dinosaurs.”

Yes. Complexity can no longer ensure CIO’s job security and worse, he has to make way for user onslaught.

To that, Vinnie Mirchandani brings out a stellar insight –

"I am amazed how arrogant the category of social software really is. Why does it feel the need to boil the ocean, change the enterprise? It has its role particularly in collaboration - but along side not instead of CRM, SCM, ERP, security, telecom and a bunch of other software categories. It needs to do its job well, not worry about the rest of the enterprise.

When it hones its focus and shows appropriate payback, it will find the CIO or IT is not the enemy. Just a bunch of folks trying to juggle a wide range of competing technology initiatives."

I agree with both. But I have this user perspective –

Enterprise IT faces extinction if it does not progressively busy itself with envisioning where a company is going and take over its IT complexities. Clients have just Information needs; spare them the pain of Technology. Enterprise IT vendors can very well keep it.

Here are some more areas where Enterprise could play a larger role. Think of Master Data Management, Meta Data integration, App streaming and moving from process centric to information centric architecture. In effect, transform Business Intelligence to much wider Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) that yields the big picture. In that I see the end of licensing model as we know it. Transition to significantly more flexible memory based pricing or even by the no. of virtual cores.

Darwin said "extinction presages evolution" and in all this, they sure will be doing Darwin a lot proud :)

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