10 Predictions for the future of IT

1. Ninety-eight percent of business data will be stored in the

cloud rather than traditional company data centers. Few

new technologies, or even business models, will be viable

without relying on cloud technology.

2. Cloud computing models such as Software-as-a-Service

(SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and Platform-

as-a-Service (PaaS) models will increasingly give way to

a boundless Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) dynamic

whereby IT is managed as a malleable product highly con-

ducive to innovation.

3. IT networks will be chiefly optimized for resilience and

business continuity, better supporting rising priorities such

as risk management, cybersecurity, and the near total

adoption of remote work.

4. Evolved 5G wireless networks will deliver high-band-

width, low-latency connections that will power advanced

industrial internet of things (IoT) and digital twin plat-

forms. China will be in the process of building out the

first 6G networks.

5. Advanced edge computing will provide real-time local

data processing, enhancing IoT systems while reducing

network traffic in the cloud. Sensor-laden machines will

increasingly communicate among themselves, make deci-

sions without human intervention, and invoke self-healing

mechanisms

6. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will be

common in many business environments including ware-

houses and employee training programs.

7. Analytics data will be obtained from increasingly diverse

sources, improving machine learning algorithms, strength-

 ening predictive analytics, and informing nearly all deci-

sion making.

8. Advances in AI, robotics, and automation will signifi-

cantly improve efficiency and productivity at the expense

of roles in areas such as data entry, customer service, and

manufacturing. Jobs that do not currently exist will fill the

void.

9. Unified endpoint management platforms will monitor all

network endpoints from a single interface, markedly im-

proving network visibility and cybersecurity.

10. Most industrialized countries, including the United

States, will have enacted comprehensive GDPR-inspired

federal data privacy laws. Compliance efforts will make

data security management a top strategic and operational

priority for nearly every business.

As support services become automated and infrastructure out-

sourced, IT’s primary role will shift to supporting business

strategies by integrating business systems, accelerating product

development, and improving customer experience.

Low- and no-code development platforms will be prevalent, al-

lowing tech-savvy employees to identify and implement their

own technology solutions. Business intelligence will be em-

bedded into everyday applications in ways that can be under-

stood and acted upon by employees of all skill sets. This

means IT’s role will also evolve to include a consulting func-

tion that helps to guide business initiatives and support citizen

IT leaders.

The future of IT is self-managed

By 2030, the norm-shattering Millennial workforce will be 33-

48 years old. Their way of looking at business will be the stan-

dard. Collaboration, agility, and pluralism will be values that

are not simply embraced, but expected.

Traditionally, teams are made up of people with similar job ti-

tles, skills, and backgrounds. In the future, teams, pods, or

whatever they’ll be called, will increasingly consist of dynamic

individuals from different disciplinary backgrounds, solving

problems as they appear. For this to happen, the future of IT

must involve a significant degree of self-management.

But what will that look like?

Decentralized leadership could become com-

mon
One possibility is holacracy: a management system without

managers. Essentially the opposite of a traditional corporate hi-

erarchy, holacracy is a flattened business management style

composed of circles of responsibility instead of a top-down

pyramid structure.

Rather than anarchy or a free-for-all, holacracy is governed by

a constitution. And though there are no managers per se, em-

ployees take on multiple roles, including leadership responsi-

bilities relative to their capabilities. Holacracy empowers em-

ployees and allows business to “fail fast,” but it has several

drawbacks, such as incessant meetings to allocate responsibili-

ties.

Holacracy has been adopted in part by several well-known tech

companies with varying degrees of success. The primary ex-

ample of full-blown holacracy adoption is Zappos, the Ama-

zon-owned shoe company. Online publishing company

Medium began as a holacracy, only to abandon it three years

later.

It’s possible that holacracy is currently in what Gartner’s Hype

Cycle refers to as the “trough of disillusionment” wherein the

initial holacracy hype has given way to disappointment. From

here, it either begins to enter the hype-free “slope of enlighten-

ment” where true adoption of more formalized ideas begins to

take hold—or it becomes just another failed management fad.

Agile, DevOps, and BizOps: Upending tradi-

tional workflows

A better bet is Agile, which began as a method of improving

the efficiency of software development through collaboration,

iterative problem solving, and continuous improvement.

However, in recent years, Agile has moved beyond software

development to become a general guiding philosophy. Agile

practices are maturing and its principles are permeating every-

thing from the boardroom to workplace design.

Twenty years ago, the Agile manifesto set forth four values,

the primary of which was “individuals and interactions over

processes and tools.” This value will only become more crucial

for businesses that must adapt to rapidly evolving technology

and the business opportunities that await.

A key element required to elevate individuals and interactions

over processes and tools is communication. Agile-related

methodologies such as scrum and kanban encourage cross-

functional communication and help to visualize workflows.

These tools are found in a range of project management soft-

ware from Jira to Smartsheet.

 Kanban cards in Smartsheet (Source)

DevOps, a derivation of Agile practices, has brought develop-

ers and operations together to automate where possible, work

incrementally, and sharply reduce delivery times.

Newer incarnations have crept up such as DevSecOps, which

endeavors to incorporate security from the start. BizOps goes a

step further by aligning business strategy with operations to

identify opportunities and determine priorities.

Siloed and process-driven organizations respond slowly to

change and are thus less likely to meet ever-increasing cus-

tomer expectations. Unwieldy frameworks such as ITIL are be-

ing displaced by Agile-inspired practices that bring all ele-

ments of the business together.

Leading from behind and why be-

ing a sheep isn't so baaad

Future leaders of IT will lead from behind. This means foster-

ing a culture of communication, flexibility, and adaptability.

The concept of leading from behind stems from an

interpretation of a passage in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography

that reads, “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the

flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the

others follow, not realizing that all along they are being di-

rected from behind."

A few years ago, I was in Madrid to witness the Fiesta de la

Trashumancia, a bewildering annual spectacle that features

farmers shepherding thousands of sheep through the city cen-

ter. These sheep are, of course, accustomed to rolling hills and

wide open spaces. Nevertheless, they seemed quite comfort-

able strolling down Madrid’s most ornate streets with locals

and tourists lining either side.

While following the procession, I noticed how calmly the

sheep walked, with little guidance and the farmers trailing be-

hind or to the sides. Never once did I see a sheep wander into
the crowd, but if one had, a farmer would have quickly been

there to guide it back to the right path.

Fiesta de la Trashumancia (Photo source: Zach Capers)

Sheep are often maligned as blind followers, but in reality

they’re herded very carefully from behind. And while this

analogy isn’t intended to compare IT staff to sheep, that

wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

There’s a lot of evidence that sheep are highly intelligent. They

have excellent memory, above average hearing, and their

square pupils give them an extra-wide field of vision. And de-

spite their reputations for copying one another, if left alone,

sheep tend to wander independently.

Similarly, the IT staff of the future must be allowed to wander

across domains and adapt to new environments. They must

maintain a wide field of vision to identify, coordinate, and de-

ploy IT resources when and where needed.

IT managers and CIOs of the future will encourage experimen-

tation, reflection, and adaptation to ensure that IT staff feels

greater autonomy to work creatively with different lines of

business.

Whether working with designers to improve product appear-

ance or engaging with anthropologists to better understand

user behaviors, IT will be encouraged to seek opportunities to

facilitate innovation and optimize customer experience.

Instead of developing concrete plans and handing out direc-

tives, IT leaders will look ahead to see where their organiza-

tions need to be and ensure that their teams are empowered to

take them there.

Moving forward

The trend is away from rigid, process-oriented structure and

toward becoming a versatile customer-driven organization.

This will be achieved by merging functional areas, simplifying

processes, and coordinating resources to rapidly deliver new

and innovative products and services.

Rather than a waterfall of disjointed teams, the future of IT

will more closely resemble a pool of collaborative resources.