Big enterprise, government and education are all striving to adapt to the new age of user-centric IT – particularly of mobility – where people work where they want, when they want, on their own terms.
Today's digital natives demand instant connectivity. They presume their personal and work activities will co-exist on the same device. They're programmed to expect seamless and secure remote access to web content, helpdesks and collaboration tools, on whatever device they are using. Organisations that fail to offer this mobile workplace, with their apps, data and services universally available, risk rejection by top talent and may struggle to access efficiency and productivity gains.
Providing user-centric IT is an inevitable progression. There are now more mobile devices in the US and Australia, than people. Researchers calculate there are now more than 30 million mobile devices, within Australia’s population of 23 million. China with its massive population owns more than 1.2 billion devices and leads the world in mobile penetration. This unstoppable appetite for mobility requires a fundamental shift in enterprise strategy and in the role of the CIO.
When consumers acquire a mobile device, they are buying the services it can provide, not the hardware. Similarly, forward-thinking enterprises are in a service-led transformation. They are defining themselves more and more by the services they use and provide, plus the standards they follow, rather than by how they manage the underlying technology (or devices). Logicalis sees such forward-thinking organisations as being more agile Service Defined Enterprises (SDEs).
There is little doubt that, within five years, by 2020, this mobility shift will have fundamentally transformed both enterprises and workplaces:
- Employees will take for granted that they can choose whatever device they want and use it for work and play.
- Organisations will routinely trawl the entire planet for the most qualified people when they are recruiting.
- Customers will receive much more personalised attention from sales people who are 'mobility equipped' by enterprises that host services and data in the cloud or elsewhere. Sales teams will have the necessary information at their fingertips anytime, anywhere.
CIOs are in the firing line as enterprises shift to this 'mobility first' mindset. They know a mobility focus brings greater flexibility, productivity and business growth, but still must spend up to 80% of their time, and budget, on keeping elderly IT systems ticking over, based on decisions made between five and 10 years ago. Innovation and strategic planning around mobility suffers, despite the apparent insatiable demand. Engaging providers (like Logicalis) is one approach that enables this process to happen.
Managed-services providers are in the box seat as this IT sea change happens. The CIO’s role is already being overhauled and a more apt title for this 'new CIO' is Director of IT. They are increasingly being tasked to spearhead the transformation of the IT department from old-world internal IT expert and provider, to Internal Enterprise Service Provider (IESP).
Organisations will likely come to see internal “Directors of IT” as similar to their external managed or cloud service providers who are now offering nearly all of what the traditional CIO offered in the past.
The new Directors of IT are emulating the efficiency and agility of outside services and developing new cost-effective options that improve user experiences. This is leading to more agile and responsive enterprises and happier internal clients. Organisations locked into the ageing IT model are destined to lose their competitive edge.
Logicalis is one of the leaders of the new breed of external providers that are facilitating the overhaul of the CIO’s role. By taking responsibility for their clients' complete enterprise IT lifecycle – from maintenance and monitoring services through to advanced private cloud platform management – they can bring instant maturity of IT service processes to organisations.
Logicalis’ Optimal Services gives CIOs the flexibility and bandwidth to proactively respond to their enterprise's need for business transformation. Simplifying, automating and standardising the management of technology, infrastructure and operations can achieve lower operational costs and consistent delivery.
To find out more about SDE read our whitepaper on why every CEO wants to lead a Service Defined Enterprise.
