Pondering at SAP Inside Track Palo Alto: Has Cloud Computing Made IT and the CIO Unnecessary?

[Former Member]

The significant automation that cloud computing has brought to IT in private and public clouds, and the rise of departmental

“shadow IT” teams wielding Software as a Service offerings has some industry pundits asking, “Is IT even necessary anymore?”

Last week, I ran into IT industry analysts Michael Krigsman and Steve Romero, and we found ourselves deeply engrossed in a conversation about whether cloud computing means the end of an era for traditional IT, or simply the beginning of a new phase.  We thought this would be an interesting subject to bring up with all of you in a discussion panel at SAP Inside track Palo Alto.

Some of the questions we will be discussing include:

1. Why is cloud computing being the end of IT a real question?
2. What is changing in the practice of IT as a result of cloud computing?
3. What do we mean by the term "Shadow IT"? Is this a bad thing? Is this different from before?
4. What is a business focus that drives IT-business collaboration in cloud?
5. If IT is often subject to total outsourcing, is cloud computing nothing more than higher productivity for outsourced providers?
6. What makes you say that IT is a really a requirement for competitive advantage? How does cloud computing help this?
7. What strategic focus does a CIO provide? What will the IT department of the future, powered by cloud computing look like?
8. How are SAP customers employing cloud computing strategically?  What's the way forward for SAP Basis teams to become relevant to cloud computing?
9. What are the boogie men people are scared of in cloud computing?
10. 
    What are the pitfalls of cloud computing...what kinds of problems are real customers having?
11. How can we link quantifiable business value to IT cloud computing initiatives?

We are even more interested in questions you would like to see discussed. We will be responding live to questions posted in chat and and Twitter. In the meantime, please feel free to submit your questions and thoughts as comments to this blog!

See you virtually at SAP Inside Track on Thursday, Feb 16. Or catch the recording of our broadcast!