The main challenges faced by IT directors today relate to
rationalisation of the IT infrastructure, whereas the challenges
for tomorrow will be to deploy the fruits of this work to
facilitate business change and bring real value from IT.
That was the message from Denise Plumpton, chairman of The
Corporate IT Forum at the user group's annual conference in
June.
"Today it is about consolidation and simplification, integrating
business processes cohesive- ly, delivering IT as a service,
maximising benefits and minimising risk," she said.
"Tomorrow, the issues will be adopting new technologies; enabling
business change through technology; and using our experience and
knowledge of IT to grow our business and market share."
The future will see even more emphasis on the relationship between
IT and the business covering a range of issues such as: strategic
partnerships, re-engineering the organisation through IT, moving
from maintenance to strategic investment, having customers in
charge of interaction, balancing innovation and cost effectiveness,
ensuring an efficient and effective supply chain, collaborative
working, and connecting the business.
Plumpton emphasised the value of IT directors discussing these
issues in a forum free of commercial pressures.
"Tif is about bringing together senior management of IT
organisations to share cross-industry experience to help provide
leadership direction to multiple and diverse communities and
businesses. It provides an opportunity to share that knowledge in a
supplier-free environment," said Plumpton.
www.tif.co.uk