3.11. Current IT organizational trends
At a session at Gartner ITExpo in Cape Town in August 2006, the speaker, John Mahoney, was talking about IT organizational trends. What Gartner had already observed over the years was the evolution of the role of the IT department from an essentially technical focus ('technology-aligned') to a more business focus ('business aligned'). This in itself was nothing new, but Gartner went on to predict further stages of evolution up the scale, to 'business engaged', 'business leadership' and finally 'embedded', i.e. no longer a stand-alone service provider but an integral part of the business.
If Gartner's prediction turns out to be correct, then it should logically be accompanied by a corresponding change in the relations between IT and the rest of the business, with the traditional client–vendor relationship gradually making way for a model based on a shared risk/reward partnership. An IT department cannot purport to be 'business engaged' or provide 'business leadership' by maintaining a traditional vendor status with its contractual safeguards and sign-offs.
This conclusion seems to be in line with sentiments echoed by the deputy CIO of Air France (Air France-KLM is the world's largest airline), Jean-Christophe Lalanne. When talking about the importance of an organizational role to manage the relationship between IT and the business (what I call later in this book Client Manager or Account Manager or Business Relationship Manager), he says that ...
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