ABSTRACT
To try to make sense of the challenges that are facing IT, particularly over the next five years, and how they will shape the organization that everyone loves to hate, the authors convened a focus group of senior IT managers from a variety of industries, including finance, retail, telecommunications, manufacturing and insurance. Participants were asked to assess how technology and organizational trends will affect IT in a number of areas including: IT’s mission, function, management, self-image, external controls, internal controls, staffing, systems development, hardware and software management, and use in the work-
place. This chapter presents the findings of this focus group. After a brief overview of the environment in which IT will find itself in the not so distant future and a look at how IT has changed over time, we then discuss IT’s evolving role and responsibilities in each of these areas.
