Let's put you on the hot spot.  You are forced to agree or disagree with the following statement and defend your answer.

Evacuating the IT department to weave IT into the business optimizes business capabilities.

What would you say?

Here's how I answer:  I agree.

My reasoning:  Almost 20 years ago, John Zachman made me read an article by Peter F. Drucker in Forbes Magazine called The Next Information Revolution.   It made such an impression on me I still have a yellowing copy of it pasted on a cabinet in my office.

To make a long story short, the article relates how in the 1400s and 1500s there was a period of time when printers of books dined with royalty and noblemen.   Printing was such a revolutionary and scarce skill they were the heroes of the day.

By the late 1500s, however, printing had become such a commodity that the occupation had completely lost its luster.   No more dining with kings and queens.

My point is this:   The days of traditional departmental IT staff having unfettered access to the financial assets of the corporate budget will end sooner than you might think.   The current way of building business systems is unsustainable.   If you think the cloud was something, just wait!

I look at agile software development as the death throes of traditional IT.   Beyond it there's nowhere left to go to accelerate except to elevate the level of human interfaces with machines.   Economics will demand it.

As traditional IT loses its grip, IT will of course become better woven into the fabric of the business.   And that's going to be a great thing for optimizing business capabilities.

Knowingly or not, business analysts are playing a founder's role in that shift of power back to the business side.   Yes, some days it feels like an impossible struggle, but time, economics, and technology are on your side.

For further information, please visit BRSolutions.com     

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