Forget IT strategy, it is now all about digital strategy

There has been a quiet revolution going on in organisations over the past decade which has gathered pace this year. Organisational IT is changing beyond recognition. With the widespread use of outsourcing, off-shoring, cloud services (application outsourcing), remote hosting and the rapidly developing automated economy, not to mention the rise of user owned devices and the shifting of IT purchasing and management power out of IT enclaves and into general business, the world of IT strategy is not what it used to be. Indeed organisations still thinking of IT as something to be aligned (proof if ever there was any needed of the 'otherness' of IT are just kidding themselves).

It is now, all about your digital strategy, that is, how will you electronically interconnect and interact with customers, suppliers, employees, government etc. The 'how' of IT is rightly taking a back-seat to the 'what - where - when'. Atlast organisational IT is maturing, it is an area of strategy every manager must now know, and it is as impossible to separate form the activity of business as finance or marketing is.

This is causing major challenges for IT managers and those living in the IT-Business alignment past. It is also a challenge for business schools and others charged with equipping tomorrows managers with the tools they need to lead tomorrows organisations. I have spent my entire career in IT and acknowledge the legacy thinking that I possess. I hope that I can embrace and contribute to the new world of digital strategy, it will be fast and exciting, and organisational IT will never be the same again. 2012 here we come.

David Gwillim

Exploring the value of IT to organisations

email: david.gwillim@optusnet.com.au