I have not posted here for a while and the reason for that is that I assumed a new role at work.  Between that and grad school, there has not been much of a chance to blog, nor was there anything particularly exciting to blog about.  Until now.

For those who haven’t heard yet, I am now the Chief Technology Strategist for Graduate Programs – essentially, I am tasked with creating a strategic technology plan for our MBA program office, and assist with its implementation.

To me, this is exciting for a number of different reasons.

First, the role is much closer to what I typically do anyway and something that I’d prefer to do.  Even when my duties are clearly tactical, I prefer to spend my time worrying less about the operations, and more about the strategic direction – what are we doing, why we’re doing it, and how we can do it better?

Second, there are many articles and blog posts that point to the fact that this is what IT may look like in the very near future: a technology professional embedded in a business unit, managing implementation of available resources, be they internal or external.  If the predication is to become a reality – what might that look like?  I have a chance to find out for myself.

Then there is the sheer size of the opportunity which is exciting in it of itself.  For one, McCombs Business School is one of the top business schools in the world, and Texas MBA is a Top 20 program.  It is also a very much its own entity within the business school, with its own admissions, career management, student services, (to a certain extent) alumni relations, and academics.  That gives me an opportunity to study and improve upon technology use across administrative, student, and academic departments.

To tie all of that together in a coherent plan that will impact the success of a group for a long time to come – what more can a long-suffering IT professional ask for?

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Sources:

Articles:

The Future of IT will be reduced to three kinds of jobs http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/the-future-of-it-will-be-reduced-to-three-kinds-of-jobs/8717

The Future of the IT Department http://www-935.ibm.com/services/be/en/attachments/pdf/Cloud_-_The_Future_of_the_IT_Department.pdf

Fast Forward: The Future of IT Departments http://www.modis.com/clients/salary-guide/article/

Blog Posts:

IT Department: The Future Outlook http://www.getcloudservices.com/blog/it-department-the-future-outlook

The IT Department of 20/20 http://www.enterprisecioforum.com/en/blogs/jdodge/it-department-2020