Big Data And The Hobsons Choice For IT Management

Abstract

The advent of Big Data is confronting Chief Information Officers (CIOs) with the fundamental dilemma of what role do we want Information Technology (IT) to play in building the DSS (Decision Support Systems) portfolio for the enterprise? This paper points out that the question is an existential one. For too long IT Management has concentrated on becoming the principal source of support for managers, in all functional areas and at all managerial levels, with the information they require for their control needs. At the same time, the IT function has been content to play second fiddle to domain experts, knowledge engineers, and decision modelers from outside the IT function for the same mangers needs for problem solving, planning, and decision making. Big Data, with its real-time impact on managerial control and planning needs, changes this status quo. It behooves CIOs to confront this Hobsons choice lest another C-level officer role such as Chief Analytics (or Data Science) Officer diminish the place of the IT function and the chant of does IT matter reverberate once again.