The Future of IT is Here! How Can You Keep Up?

Every company is now in the business of technology and future innovations, likely involving automation and artificial intelligence, are expected to further revolutionize the way we do business.

These emerging and converging tech trends are increasingly freeing employees from routine tasks, from production lines to executive offices. Immense quantities of information are being consumed in real time, as company decisions are starting to be offloaded to computers, making for more time to concentrate on organizing, going after leads and even looking into new technologies.

IT stands in the middle of all this, positioned to shift dramatically. The following is a brief rundown of the forces currently framing the future of IT.

Automation

Automation is quickly becoming commonplace in business, a shift from its former experimental status. According to a 2015 McKinsey report, one half of the job functions conducted by people today could be automated using technology currently on the market.

Authors of the report said AI and machine learning could eliminate around two-thirds of the time it takes to do routine, time-intensive work. Consequently, IT departments will have more resources for moving their organization forward and worker engagement will rise as people cut back on time they dedicate to mundane duties.

Speed

Technology projects that used to take five years are now implemented in just a couple of years. This rate of adoption is only expected to accelerate. CIOs are currently feeling the pressure to keep up with technology in order to remain competitive.

With a greater dependence on the technology and its affect on the bottom line, IT professionals must also gain a greater sense of business practices and customer knowledge. IT is no longer a back-end department that only gets called when the front office needs something. IT is now at the table; making decisions and establishing strategies that have a direct affect on their company.

Coordination

Various departments within businesses seem to be improving at collaborating to implement new technology. A recent survey by CompTIA found 40 percent of respondents saying their department works together with IT to find out which hardware, software, services, and solutions they will set up. Nineteen percent of respondents said IT deals with all such decisions and 14 percent said their individual company unit makes the call by itself.

Observers say they are witnessing spending that’s more centered on business function than on a particular department. If a tech solution calls for communication with other parts of the business’ IT architecture and the entire system must be tested, IT is then required to support the implementation. While SaaS offers the freedom from infrastructure and overhead, it doesn’t free IT from services that are required to set up and advance an intricate end-to-end company architecture.

Versatility

Some experts are suggesting that a partnership between computer intelligence and human intellect will make up the company model of the future. In this environment, the biggest advancements will come from merging company knowledge, technical know-how, and soft abilities. So the most crucial traits for being successful in business technology down the road are anticipated to be versatility in handling setbacks and a desire to abandon an idea that’s not working to try out something new.

Are you looking for top IT talent?

At Software Management Consultants, we stay on top of the latest tech trends so we can better serve our clients. If you’re looking to partner with a talent acquisition firm that has its finger on the pulse, please contact us today.