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The demise of the CIO and the IT department has been predicted for some time. And the rapid adoption of the cloud adds new weight to the assertion that many IT operations have become too slow to respond to the demands of agile business models.

There’s also growing recognition that organizations now feel free to buy whatever application or infrastructure they need from any number of service providers via flexible consumption models. This leads to two critical questions that CIOs and IT departments must ponder:

  • Can you compete in an open market against the array of “new model” service providers offering cloud as the “only viable option” for survival?
  • Can you keep pace with the demand for business innovation when you are also burdened with the obligation to fund and maintain legacy technologies?

Some suggest the cloud is to the CIO what the huge meteor was to the dinosaurs. That may be an extreme analogy, but if it rings true, it should serve more as an alarm bell than a death knell.

In the new “cloud” world—where every technology is available on-demand and as-a-service from providers perceived as faster, cheaper and more innovative—most CIOs and IT departments will struggle to remain relevant. However, there’s also a huge difference between facing a struggle and facing distinction.

After all, the dinosaurs had no alternative path when the meteor hit but IT personnel have a choice!

In the coming years, a new kind of IT department thus needs to evolve—the Service Defined Enterprise. The model serves as a critical conduit between the business and a portfolio of specialist technology service providers. It will then be the CIO’s role to align the needs of the business with the technology required to fulfil them.

To find out more about the journey to a Service Defined Enterprise, check out our free white paper or the Logicalis brief—Changing the Perception of IT. In some organizations the transformation has already begun, but for those that haven’t, it’s time to take a serious look!