Emergence of the IT Strategists

'The new holy grail of the IT strategist is to create a competitive advantage by infusing technological innovation into strategies that support their counterparts' needs for business innovation,' Said Bylina.

In their new role as IT strategists, IT executives are working more closely with other C-level personnel and partnering with line-of-business (LOB) managers in order to support business innovation.

One of the increasingly adopted technology trends that IT professionals are leveraging in order to stay on top of such a diverse array of responsibilities is mobile computing on converged devices. In some studies as much as 60 percent of strategic thinkers see value in creating a competitive advantage proposition through business innovation utilizing mobile computing.

The shift in IT focus is partly driven by technology becoming commoditized and accessible to a broader range of companies.