Greetings! 
Can you believe some companies still have a CIO? Makes you want to laugh doesn't it?
In 100 years, I predict someone will write a book called "The Big Switch" and we'll all laugh at the notion that companies in the early part of the 21st century actually had someone on staff managing technology, a "CIO".
Oh wait! Someone has written a book called The Big Switch...and readers are laughing at the notion that 100 years ago companies actually had someone on staff managing - electricity! A vice-president of electricity!
Shocking, isn't it? Electric currents were leading edge technology ten decades ago. Electric grids didn't exist, so if you wanted your plant to operate efficently and profitably, you built your own mini power plant. And because power was so critical to productivity, revenue and profits, you hired a senior manager to oversee it.
Eventually, electricity just didn't matter anymore...the competitive advantage disappeared. Electricity became a commodity as grids were built. If you wanted to remain competitive, you unplugged your power plant, ditched your VP of Electricity and "outsourced" power generation to a local provider.
IT is headed in the same direction...we are witnessing the commoditization of technology.
The "information utility", as Nick Carr calls it in his new book, is being built even as you hire another system administrator.
Business leaders who see what's unfolding will challenge their CIOs to find ways to take advantage of this inevitable shift in IT delivery. The problem is, many CIOs will balk at this...it would mean resigning themselves to becoming the next VP of Electricity. (I don't think your CIO is laughing.)
But informed CIOs will learn how to save themselves and enable the business to take advantage of the burgeoning information grid...full of greater business productivity, revenue and profits.
Let's make a deal...if in 100 years you still have a CIO, I will buy you lunch. Wouldn't it be funny if it was the same CIO?
John Hughes
IT Leadership. Better Business.
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