ORLANDO -- If IT is to successfully move into the future it's going to need to blow up its current way of thinking and the way it supports mature technologies.
That was the key message at the opening session of the Gartner Symposium IT/Expo here.
"Mature technologies are code for obsolete," said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research. "You must dare to employ creative destruction to eliminate legacy, and selectively destroy low impact systems."
The main reasons behind the need for such a move is the explosion of information, collaboration and mobility, enabled by the cloud," he said. "IT leaders must embrace the post-modern business, a business driven by customer relationships where the customer is everywhere, and so must your business."
Some interesting facts driving the need for such dramatic changes:
- By 2014 CIOs will have lost effective control of 25% of their organizations IT spending.
- By 2016 the installed base of mobile PCs and smart hones will exceed that of desktop PCs.
- By 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber PC projects by 4 to 1.
"Most IT organizations have 70% or more of their time, money and mindshare locked into reliability, keeping things going," said Tina Nunno, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Never taking risks means you are predictable and an easy target for your competition."
Gartner analysts went on to say IT leaders must destroy perfectionism and embrace calculated risk. CIOs tend to be perfectionists who are highly detail-oriented. It's what has made so many of them good at their jobs. However, it can sometimes lead to issues with risk and uncertainty.
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