I received this prediction in response to my recent Keep the Joint Running, "Carr-ied away," (2/4/2008). I won't tell you I agree with it. I will say I find it as provocative as Carr's prediction that the application side of IT will move into the business, and more plausible.- BobDear Bob ...As always, I enjoyed your column today!I do think Mr. Carr is a little more "exactly wrong" than you give him credit for.H I received this prediction in response to my recent Keep the Joint Running, “Carr-ied away,” (2/4/2008). I won’t tell you I agree with it. I will say I find it as provocative as Carr’s prediction that the application side of IT will move into the business, and more plausible. – Bob Dear Bob … As always, I enjoyed your column today! I do think Mr. Carr is a little more “exactly wrong” than you give him credit for. Having worked for a series of financial services companies, I’ve noticed that more and more, the business is moving into the IT organization. I can’t even begin to count how many times the business has come to me and asked how we did something (one example: how do we calculate interest rate swaps collateral movements again? – I have a Word doc on that and a Powerpoint I’ve explained it so many times). I’m not alone spending time on such “2nd level support” in IT … and I think Mr. Carr is on to something – he’s just exactly wrong. The business folks are becoming replaceable units that don’t add an advantage. Look at call center outsourcing, the travel department or HR outsourcing. These are business functions that don’t provide a unique advantage (unless you have scale). IT now decides how cargo, money, securities, etc. move from one place to another, not someone holding a meeting on the 14th floor that brings the really choice donuts. Perhaps we should propose a theory of the “Utility Business Organization” where all of the management functions are outsourced except for IT (and maybe Marketing). I’d be a lot more productive if a bunch of folks getting paid a quarter of my rate would attend a laundry list of meetings for me and then send me an e-mail of the minutes from the meeting. We could get some scale, too: One person could represent more than a single attendee. An outsourced CEO? Seems like someone on Madison Avenue or in Hollywood ought to be able to create a “virtual utility CEO” played by an actor for a much better rate of compensation. My guess is that more people would recognize the “can you hear me now?” Verizon guy than the CEO … why not make them one and the same? It is all about pushing the brand to shareholders, right? Plus we could save on travel, and provide a customized look (different actor) for the different global locations that people could identify more clearly with, and we could reduce the possibility of scandalous behavior by strictly restricting behavior while “in costume.” Strategic management? When was the last time you were surprised by a good business decision that was based on actual data? Usually we know what management is going to have to decide to do before they can build the consensus for it (and the IT guys have spun the data before anyone sees it). Why not go ahead and send that out to a contract firm, too? You could switch management companies in the event of trouble (much like switching advertising agencies). How am I not a billionaire with brilliant ideas like this? Now if I could just convince the CEO it’s a good idea … Oh, and this plays nicely with your idyllic future, too. I’ve written code. – Andrew Powered by ScribeFire. Technology Industry