I remember the day I submitted my MBA practicum like it was yesterday. The year was 2001, and I had just spent months pouring my heart and soul into a document that I believed would help shape the future of information technology management. My advisor, Dr. John Lemmon, was so impressed with the work that he strongly encouraged me to pursue turning it into a published book. Little did I know that this paper would become a time capsule, preserving a snapshot of IT strategy at the dawn of a new millennium.

As I sit here in 2024, scrolling through the yellowed pages of my practicum (okay, they’re not really yellowed – it’s a PDF), I’m struck by a mix of nostalgia, pride, and amusement. It’s like watching an old sci-fi movie and marveling at how some predictions were spot-on while others missed the mark entirely. This journey through time has me reflecting on just how far we’ve come in the world of IT strategy, and where we might be headed next.

The Visionary Victories: Where the Practicum Got It Right

The Rise of the CIO

Back in 2001, I argued passionately for the importance of having a Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the executive table. At the time, this was a relatively novel concept for many organizations. Fast forward to today, and it’s hard to imagine a Fortune 500 company without a CIO – or even a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) to boot.

In my practicum, I wrote:

“A CIO adds value to the management team by providing insight into what is possible through information technology innovation, and results in a further reaching management perspective than would otherwise be possible.”

This prediction has proven to be spot-on. CIOs have indeed become crucial members of the C-suite, bridging the gap between technology and business strategy. The role has evolved even further than I anticipated, with many CIOs now driving digital transformation initiatives that are reshaping entire industries.

The Strategic Importance of IT

One of the core arguments in my practicum was that IT should be viewed as a strategic resource rather than just a support function. This idea has become so ingrained in modern business thinking that it almost seems quaint to point it out now.

I wrote:

“Although the key success factors necessary for a company’s survival in an industry may not include IT infrastructure or knowledge, companies are under increasing pressure to develop IT as a core competency and to use it as a tactical strategic resource for developing, increasing, or maintaining competitive advantage.”

Today, we see companies like Amazon, Google, and Netflix that have leveraged technology not just to support their business, but to become their business. The line between “tech companies” and “non-tech companies” has blurred to the point of irrelevance.

The “Ilities” Are Still Vital

I emphasized the importance of building IT infrastructures that could adapt to changing business needs. This principle has become even more critical in the age of cloud computing, microservices, and DevOps.

Remember when I talked about the importance of the “ilities” – scalability, flexibility, reliability, etc.? These concepts are still at the core of modern IT architecture, albeit with some new buzzwords thrown into the mix (hello, “elasticity” and “resilience”).

In my practicum, I wrote:

“The ‘ilities’ are sets of system qualities that make a technology infrastructure worthwhile for the enterprise. These sets of system qualities are scalability, flexibility, manageability, security, reproducibility, availability, reliability, performance, usability, and accessibility.”

The Missed Connections: Where the Practicum Fell Short

The Mobile Revolution

If there’s one glaring omission in my practicum, it’s the lack of foresight regarding the mobile revolution. In 2001, we were still in the era of flip phones and PDAs. The idea that most of our computing would one day be done on pocket-sized supercomputers was barely a blip on the radar.

This oversight highlights the importance of always looking beyond current technological paradigms when crafting IT strategies.

The Data Deluge

While I touched on the importance of data management, I grossly underestimated the sheer scale of data that organizations would be dealing with in 2024. Big Data, data lakes, and the entire field of data science were unforeseen developments that have radically altered the IT landscape.

The Security Imperative

Although I mentioned security as an important consideration, I failed to predict just how central it would become to IT strategy. In today’s world of constant cyber threats and stringent data protection regulations, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue – it’s a board-level concern.

In my practicum, I wrote:

“If information is to be valued as a strategic resource, it must be protected and guarded like any other corporate asset. Just as money should be kept in the bank, the corporate ‘license to print money’, or the data, must be kept under lock and key as well.”

While this sentiment was on the right track, the reality of cybersecurity in 2024 has far surpassed what I envisioned. Today, cybersecurity is a cornerstone of strategic technology management for several reasons:

1. Regulatory Compliance: The introduction of regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and numerous industry-specific standards has made data protection a legal imperative.
2. Reputational Risk: High-profile data breaches can cause irreparable damage to a company’s reputation and customer trust.
3. Financial Impact: The cost of cyberattacks has skyrocketed, with potential losses in the millions or even billions of dollars.
4. Operational Resilience: Cybersecurity is now integral to business continuity planning, with ransomware and other attacks capable of shutting down entire operations.
5. Competitive Advantage: Strong cybersecurity practices have become a differentiator in many industries, particularly those handling sensitive data.
6. Innovation Enabler: Robust security measures allow companies to adopt new technologies and business models with confidence.
7. Supply Chain Security: Organizations now need to consider the security practices of their entire supply chain, expanding the scope of cybersecurity management.

The evolution of cybersecurity from a technical consideration to a strategic imperative underscores how dramatically the IT landscape has changed since 2001.

The Unanswered Questions: Peering into the Future

As I reflect on my practicum and the current state of IT strategy, I’m left with several burning questions about the future:

1. How will artificial intelligence reshape IT management? Will we see AI-driven autonomous IT systems that can self-optimize and self-heal?
2. What role will quantum computing play in enterprise IT? As quantum computers become more practical, how will they integrate with classical systems?
3. How will we balance the need for data-driven decision making with growing privacy concerns? Will we see a backlash against data collection, or will new technologies emerge to protect privacy while still enabling analytics?
4. What new skills will IT professionals need to develop? With the rapid pace of technological change, how can we ensure that our workforce remains adaptable and relevant?
5. How will edge computing and 5G (or 6G) networks change the way we architect IT systems? Will the cloud as we know it become obsolete?

These questions serve as a reminder that the field of IT strategy is ever-evolving. Just as my practicum was both prescient and shortsighted, our current strategies will likely seem both visionary and limited when viewed from the vantage point of 2047.

As IT professionals, our job is not just to keep up with the latest technologies, but to anticipate how they will reshape our businesses and societies. We must remain curious, adaptable, and always willing to challenge our assumptions.

So, dear reader, I leave you with this call to action: Take a moment to write down your own predictions for the future of IT strategy. What do you think will be the next big paradigm shift? What current trends do you believe will fade away? And most importantly, how can you position yourself and your organization to thrive in the face of these changes?

After all, the best way to predict the future is to create it. Who knows – maybe in 23 years, you’ll be looking back at your own prescient (and occasionally misguided) thoughts on the future of IT strategy.