For anyone in the tech industry, these are the best of times and the worst of times. As I noted in my last piece, we are in a period of tremendous innovation, but also one of enormous dislocation, brought on the upheaval of technology disruption.
I addressed the changing role of IT in that piece, noting four key tenets that will drive IT organizations’ role over the next decade:
- Software is eating the world
- Open source is eating the technology industry
- No enterprise is Netflix, or ever will be
- Helping enterprises become software companies via the use of open source is the opportunity of the next decade
This transition in IT’s role can be summarized in this phrase: IT is changing from "support the business" to "be the business." Obviously, this imposes tremendous change upon IT – from the kind of applications IT builds to the way they’re built, the people and skills used to build and operate them, and even the kinds of business partnerships and customer relations the company at large will carry on.