Preparing for the future of work
The first is that IT needs to both listen and speak. We need to listen to what is happening in the business as well as the market. We need to have a vision, figuring out the problem areas before people realize they can be addressed, and then evangelize a new world of possibilities and value. We can’t just let the needs of the organization be defined by others – while at the same time, we need to respond to the needs that are defined for us.
The new capabilities needed by the business will likely require a move far beyond our retrenching into IT’s roots. We need to be viewed as an organization that provides new possibilities as well.
Our future work environment will be defined by the ubiquity of computing, carried personally (e.g., BYOD) or leveraged across organizations, delivering capabilities wherever computing is needed. IT organizations will need to understand and leverage the capabilities of the ecosystem around us to enhance, augment and integrate individuals and groups. The abundance of computational capabilities and the automation it enables will enable and empowered workforce to engage their imaginations and their network of relationships on new opportunities.
