Every revolution in technology

has an “inflection” point, when the rate of change turns exponential, leaving old ways behind forever.

Where to even start? Mobile supremacy? Smartphones are overtaking PCs in internet traffic.[1] 3D printing available to the masses? Custom prostheses can now be “printed” on demand. Virtual reality? We can already immerse individuals in a 360° reality surrounding them—like the moving picture innovation that came before it, a technology waiting only for its “Orson Welles,” its first master story-teller. Wearable tech? In 1970’s chip technology, today’s iWatch would be four feet tall, three feet wide, and a foot thick.

Then there’s the sheer mountain of data, 2.5 million more terabytes daily[2], and the challenge to store, analyze, and make practical use of it. And what opportunities and challenges do today's 3.8 billion internet users[3] actually represent?

Delving into the information technology we employ, we are no longer chained to needing our own infrastructure and support personnel, our own applications developers and maintainers. We can contract for computing power and storage in the cloud, purchase cloud-based solutions and domain-specific plug-ins and bolt-ons to interact with our suppliers, produce our products, run our businesses, engage our customers. Today’s technologist is both creator and orchestrator.

And the key to successful orchestration? Identifying, gathering, contracting all the components, whether solutions or services, whether human or machine.

IT sourcing has come of age, evolved from a euphemism for commoditizing jobs and shipping them offshore to low-cost just-skilled-enough providers to a strategic discipline at the very heart of enterprise IT. While yesterday’s sourcing was often a procurement activity primarily focused on price, sourcing is now focused by necessity on the entire solution/supplier life-cycle, from initial vetting and comparative analyses of suppliers, solutions and services, through RFx’s, contracts, statements of work, engagement, and execution. Effective sourcing encompasses procurement, risk management, data privacy and intellectual property protection, data security, and third party governance—within a framework of active and engaged service management. Sourcing is no longer an afterthought, but our first thought.

Likewise, data privacy and protection have moved to the forefront, out of the IT closet and into the boardroom. The EU is leading the way in preventing the misuse of personal data—while also expanding it to include, for example, one's IP address. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), passed in 2016, came into effect in 2018.[4] While penalties for failure to protect personal information are severe, surveys have indicated that less than half of cyber professionals were prepared. In the meantime, the migration of IT to the cloud increasingly puts personal data outside of the physical control of those ultimately held responsible for its safe-keeping.

The convergence of cloud solutions and infrastructure, sourcing, risk, privacy, and information security is breaking down traditional silos of technology roles and responsibilities. For myself, having launched programs across those disciplines, it is an unequaled opportunity to apply lessons learned from a career as a technology practitioner, manager, service provider, and planner. There has truly never been a more challenging or exciting time to be in information technology!

I also invite you to my dedicated IT sourcing site: ITSOURCERS.COM