The CIO in 2020

I recently responded to a forum posting about what the CIO of 2020 would look like.

CIOs will have to deal with pressure from users to deliver IT that matches the expectations they have as consumers. Support for tablets, smartphones and other devices can no longer be disregarded as this will be the way that people will expect to work.

What that means in practice is that applications must be securely accessible through the browser. That means cloud technology (public and private) and this will present challenges in terms of systems integration and security.

The CIO of 2020 will have fewer desktop support staff, but will come to depend more on system developers to ensure cloud systems are properly integrated. In my opinion, finding the balance between ease of access for users and security for the organization will be the primary challenge faced by CIOs.