Our future of IT survey has three parts: The
first section covers the top business, managerial
and technology priorities for 2007, the second presents
the economic outlook as our respondents see
it, and the rest presents a peek at where IT is heading.
In the short term, IT executives are continuing to work
on improving customer service and business processes. The
news here is just how important customer service will be.
Most respondents expect the economy and their own company’s
revenues to continue to grow at the same pace, or better,
in 2007. That growth will
be a lot harder to achieve if customer service
levels keep drooping, as they did in 2006.
Strategic applications and technologies that
can help boost service and revenues, such
as business intelligence, will be especially
important this year.
Looking ahead, our readers expect fewer
college graduates in IT, as well as more security
problems, online business, outsourcing
and regulations. Teen fads and nanotechnology
could have an enormous impact on
businesses. But the real revolution will happen as SOA and Web-services architectures
bring new options, and as many IT organizations begin to resemble the
model of an atom: a nucleus of business-technology managers surrounded by
an electron cloud of technical specialists, contractors and service providers. All
in all, we can expect more technological disruptions, managerial changes and
security challenges. To paraphrase Bette Davis, the future is no place for sissies.
In this feature:
The Future of I.T.: What’s on Tap for 2007 and Beyond