Skip the navigation

IT Careers 2020: Cloudy days ahead

When the cloud blots out the classic IT shop, only the tech-savvy business experts will weather the storm.

By Julia King
August 23, 2010 06:00 AM ET

Computerworld - Welcome to the IT organization of the year 2020 -- and brace yourself, because it's a far cry from the department you find yourself in today.

Computer programmers have gone the way of the typing pool. So have one-dimensional technology specialists like network engineers. Deeply technical professionals with multiple certifications in virtualization, networking and security technologies work primarily as component engineers and IT architects. Job titles include cloud architect, cloud capacity planner, cloud infrastructure administrator and integration architect.

The people who work in these roles design and maintain the underlying framework or architecture. On top of this architecture sits a shifting inventory of cloud services, plug-and-play Web-based applications and easy-to-use proprietary software components that together represent the key source of a company's competitive advantage.

How these various components will be innovatively mixed and matched will largely be decided by marketing, supply chain and other business functions and divisions that will be guided by a second tier of IT professionals: super-IT-savvy business experts who reside in the business.

They don't build software, but they work with the business to invent new products and services. They also assemble the software components needed to bring those offerings to market. They have titles like business systems analyst and business solutions consultant.

Sound far-fetched? It's only 2010, but already, the savviest companies are well along the path of implementing this kind of two-tiered IT workforce structure.

"2020 is already here," says Ian Patterson, CIO at St. Louis-based Scottrade. There, the IT organization includes project managers and business analysts with deep analytical and communication skills, and technical architects, who make sure "we don't step on ourselves by doing something that will negatively impact the business from a technology standpoint," Patterson says.

Going forward, CIOs and IT employment experts predict that this bifurcation of IT roles will vastly accelerate, with most professionals falling into one of two major categories: technical specialists and business specialists.

Tier 1: Tech Specialists

Technical specialists are the people who work in a centralized IT or business services organization. If you want to work here, you need to know about data standards, information standards, virtualization, networks, mobile technology and IT architecture, among other things. "You need to get skilled in emerging technologies and develop a deep technical skill set," says Mark O'Gara, vice president of infrastructure at Highmark Inc., a health insurer in Harrisburg, Pa.

Overall, this organization will have far fewer people than today's IT department, but these workers will have an extremely rich set of technical skills, and they will understand precisely how their business makes and loses money and how all transactions flow through the enterprise.



What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Don't have an account yet?
Additional Resources
Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Management and Careers White Papers
The CFO Guide to Budgeting Software
A mid-sized business needs the same financial performance control and measurement capabilities as a large corporation, but in a solution that's affordable, easy...
Transition from Spreadsheet Budgets to Packaged Application
This white paper details the problems that go with spreadsheet-based budgeting as well as the advantages of packaged applications. It also proposes a...
Better Cash Flow Management: Recession-Proof Your Business
Cash is the lifeblood of most small to mid-sized organizations. So why rely on error-prone spreadsheets for forecasting cash flow and risk making...
Centage/IOMA Budgeting Survey: Benchmarks and Issues
How are other financial professionals dealing with the issues you face? This report offers you an inside peak into what the minds at...
Is Your Database Ready For Your Company's Future?
This brochure is targeted to executives and will cover all the business benefits of DB2.
All Management and Careers White Papers
Management and Careers Webcasts
Live Webcast
A Geek's Guide to Presenting to Business People
Live Webcast: Wednesday, June 20th at 1:00 PM EDT

Join this live webinar with Paul Glen, author of Leading Geeks, to learn how to...
Operational Analytics - Changing the Competitive Dynamics of the Business
Date/Time: June 5, 2012, 11:00 a.m., EDT, 4:00 p.m. BST / 3:00 p.m. UTC

Please join us for this webcast, as Dr. Barry...
A Geek's Guide to Presenting to Business People
Live Webcast: Wednesday, June 20th at 1:00 PM EDT

Join this live webinar with Paul Glen, author of Leading Geeks, to learn how to...
Shifting Application Dynamics Impact Performance Management
Curtis Franklin, Contributing Editor at InformationWeek, interviews Alain Cohen, OPNET's President and CTO, regarding trends in application performance management (APM), how organizations are...
Integrated IT Operations Management in the Cloud
Join award-winning technology editor Stan Gibson and Andrew White, CMO at BMC, to learn how asset management and service management are converging and...
Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
All Management and Careers Webcasts
IT Salaries 2012
2012 Salary Survey

How does your salary compare with your peers? Find out using our Smart Salary Tool.

Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs