Trend 22: IT Architecture Becomes Critical to Business Strategy

What once appeared arcane will become more and more central. As high-growth companies have figured out, IT architecture and infrastructure have never been so closely tied to corporate strategy as they are today. It doesn't matter whether CIOs are trying to achieve faster growth, better business processes, lower costs or global expansion; none of these goals can be reached unless information can be securely shared, applications are available that make it possible for employees to work with that information, and a common IT platform ties it all together.

That will require careful IT architectural planning, not serendipity and spaghetti code. No wonder spending on infrastructure is increasing, and improving the IT architecture and infrastructure is the No. 1 technology priority.