Ignoring Disruptive Technologies Can Risk Diminishing the CIO Role

An ever-increasing demand to forecast technology impacts requires that CIOs move beyond day-to-day technology management.

With innovative technology transformations evolving faster than ever, technology leaders must understand potential disruptions and have foresight into specific emerging technologies that could affect their organizations in the near future. As such, global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has released its new blueprint, Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology, to help technology leaders develop a process for anticipating, analyzing, and exploiting disruptive technologies.

According to the firm’s research, IT leaders who do not stay up-to-date with disruptive technologies will find their roles diminished. Trends like cloud services, increased automation, and consumerization have reduced the need for IT to be involved in every aspect of deploying and using technology. By anticipating new technologies, defining new IT roles and responsibilities that reflect the reality of technology today, and having a process to forecast new trends while maintaining everyday operations, IT leaders can protect their role.

“Companies are facing significant technology disruptions in markets that could fundamentally change the business or affect its processes and technologies,” says Troy Cheeseman, Infrastructure and Operations Research Practice Lead at Info-Tech Research Group. “Technology leaders can vastly influence business strategies and company management by adopting a proactive approach to understanding disruptive and innovative technologies and their impacts on the business.”

Technology can disrupt IT in several ways, including the infrastructure and applications that IT needs to use internally and the technology of end users that IT will need to support and deploy. The same disruptive technology can also negatively affect the viability of the business and its standing in relation to competitors that can offer a better product through innovative new technologies. However, technology can also allow IT to run more efficiently and increase the efficiency of other business units.

The new research blueprint describes Info-Tech’s recommended methodology to proactively monitor, evaluate, and exploit disruptive technologies. This approach includes the following actions leaders should take:

• Establishing a core working group, selecting a leader, and selecting a group of visionaries to help brainstorm emerging technologies.
• Brainstorming about creating a better future and starting an initial longlist.
• Training the group to think like futurists.
• Evaluating the shortlist.
• Defining the PoC list and schedule.
• Finalizing and presenting the plan to stakeholders.

By being prepared, technology leaders can build a process that anticipates future disruptions and integrates alongside operations in the present.

Download the complete Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology blueprint for more information.

To learn more about Info-Tech Research Group, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and Twitter.