Recently, one of the Executive Team members asked me for comments on how Information Technology has changed in the last 20 years. The Computer History Museum is a great resource for this. Here are some IT-related things that happened in 2000:
- First Camera Phones Introduced – 0.11 megapixels with 256 color display
- Sony PlayStation 2 Released – this was the first system that would use DVDs for games
- USB Flash Drive Introduced
- Y2K Bug Addressed – this was a storm in a teacup hyped up by the media
As CIO, I tend to think about how the provisioning of IT services has changed. Here are some observations:
IT Demand – In 2013, Forrester released a report emphasizing that IT demand had increased to the tipping point:
“Business leaders are driving the speed of execution and adaptation to astonishing levels because customers demand such performance… Demand has irreversibly exceeded the capacity of traditional IT…Entrenched behaviors are hampering the ability of IT to accelerate the speed of delivery. Technology solutions are now profoundly valuable, but they are useless unless the people are prepared to exploit their capabilities. Behavioral inertia causes IT practices to change too slowly [emphasis added].“
Consumerization – IT services like storage, email, and video conferencing no longer require provision by IT support staff. Users can simply create a free account with Dropbox, Gmail, Skype, or any other cloud service to fulfill their needs. This creates complexity in data security and may not align with organizational IT rules.
Security – Security spending has doubled in the last 10 years. I couldn’t find information prior to 2010, but I don’t remember Cybersecurity being a “thing” in 2000. We paid attention to patching and virus scanning, but ransomware didn’t exist and known security incidents were much less prevalent. Data breaches and security incidents are big business since the amount of generated data users produce increase 4300% since 2009.
Virtual Machines – VMs have actually been around since the 1960s within the context of mainframes, but the provision and management of a VM infrastructure wasn’t prevalent until about 2010. VMs and Virtual Networks form the basis of most modern IT infrastructure. This introduces new costs and capabilities that IT must acquire.
Mobile Computing – desktop computers, while still widely used, are becoming less prevalent as laptops, tablets, and mobile devices get more powerful. This progression is mostly a function of power requirements, partially a result of devices that consume less power and batteries that hold more power.
Tragedy of the Commons – Explosion of network devices continues to stretch the capacity of our networks to support them. This was not an issue 20 years ago. The average number of networked-enabled devices has increased from 0.08 in 2003 to 6.58 today.
Bottom line: The infusion of IT in our daily work and lives has exploded. Customer expectations have changed. Provision of IT services requires new capabilities to be developed in shorter cycles of time.