IT will see a lot of change by 2020 and as CIO, you need to help your company get out in front. Here are four keys to success from Forrester Research. Is your IT strategic plan set up for success over the next 10 years? If you’re like most enterprises today, the answer is no and the amount of change you will see far exceeds your expectations. Forrester sees three forces reshaping IT by 2020: the explosion of business-ready, self-service technologies; the growing influence of a tech-savvy, self-sufficient workforce; and a radically new business market shaped by emerging economies that will soon dwarf the established ones. These may not sound like IT concerns, but they will profoundly affect how IT is viewed. In the past, when new waves of technology swept into our businesses—beginning with PCs in the 1980s and continuing to today’s self-service technologies—the reaction has been a pendulum swinging between centralized, industrialized IT and decentralized, embedded IT. Businesses must move to a model we call Empowered Business Technology (BT), which embeds enabling technology innovation into the business while providing just enough centralized coordination and oversight to meet enterprisewide goals and control costs. Empowered BT lets businesses pursue opportunities with grassroots solutions while still balancing enterprise concerns. Key to success is the interplay between four new meta-roles: Visionaries, who look for new tech-enabled business opportunities; consultants, who provide on-demand expertise to turn these ideas into reality; integrators, who connect innovative solutions to each other and to core systems; and sustainability experts, who ensure solutions are scalable and sustainable in the enterprise. These roles are combined with a new operating model based on guidelines, mentoring and inspection. Each business organization will fill these roles in their unique way. What does this mean to CIOs? First, work with your business colleagues to determine how radical a change your company envisions so you know what priority to place on transforming IT. Then work with the innovators in your company to craft a firm-specific vision and begin working toward it. To do this right, IT needs to embrace business ownership of technology decisions. As CIO, you should be poised to help your company profit from the massive change that’s afoot in the business climate. Alex Cullen and James Staten are vice presidents at Forrester Research. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Generative AI ICT Partners feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe