Cloud Computing’s Paradox: More IT, But Less IT Management

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Wither the information technology department? There’s been no end to speculation as of late, as employees bring their own devices to work, marketing chiefs grab more technology budget dollars, and everyone signs up and tends to their own cloud realms. Gartner, the analyst firm created by and for technology professionals, has been predicting that IT departments will be dissolved and dispersed into the business units they serve.

IT leaders recognize that the cloud parade has started without them, and that they have been sidelined to some degree. In a recent survey, a majority of those in enterprises adopting cloud, 61 percent, say business units are choosing, managing and funding their own cloud solutions. In the survey of 133 CIOs, conducted and released by 2nd Watch, only 37 percent of IT leaders estimate that they are delivering the bulk of cloud services sought by business users…

IT leaders may feel they have fallen behind in the cloud revolution, but they are not willing to let things go without a fight. If anything, CIOs are accelerating efforts to evolve their departments from creators and managers of solutions to brokerage roles, in which they expertly identify and supply technology to internal customers. In the survey, 43 percent of IT leaders say they are planning to develop cloud services brokerage models in their quest to get out in front if the cloud parade and deliver the majority of the cloud services their companies use within the next two years…

Read more from the source @ http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2014/01/17/cloud-computings-paradox-more-it-but-less-it-management/