The Day the IT Department Disappears: Management’s New Responsibility

The Deeper Meaning Behind the “IT Department is Unnecessary” Debate

Discussions about IT departments becoming obsolete occasionally make headlines in business media. This argument is fueled by the democratization of IT through SaaS and the rise of no-code tools. However, dismissing this debate as mere hype or a passing trend is dangerous. Why? Because this “unnecessary” argument contains a profoundly essential question, forcing management to confront the price of consistently avoiding IT responsibilities.

To be clear, the IT department as an “organization” will likely change its form. However, the “function” of IT will never become unnecessary. On the contrary, management’s responsibility to define the purpose of IT and design its implementation will become more critical than ever. This article analyzes the background of the “IT department is unnecessary” debate from a management perspective and considers what an ideal IT organization should look like.

Why Does the “IT Department is Unnecessary” Argument Emerge?

There are three main factors behind this argument.

First, the proliferation of SaaS and cloud services. In the past, much of the IT department’s work involved physical infrastructure management, such as server operations, software installation, and license management. Today, much of this is outsourced to cloud vendors, significantly changing the role of internal IT teams.

Second, the rise of no-code and low-code tools. Business units can now create simple applications and workflows themselves, making the IT department’s “wait-and-see” approach an increasingly common bottleneck. Business units are starting to feel that “doing it ourselves is faster than waiting for IT.”

Third, IT departments tend to be overly focused on “defense.” While security measures and stable operations are important, they often fail to provide a sense of contributing to business growth, leading management to view them as a “cost center.” This structure fuels debates questioning the very raison d’être of the IT department.

What Management Must Consider Before the IT Department Disappears

However, eliminating the IT department is not a magic bullet. In fact, abolishing the IT department means management takes on the full responsibility for IT. Many executives underestimate the weight of this responsibility.

The key is not the “form” of the IT department, but how to implement the “function” of IT within the organization. We believe it is crucial to classify IT into three categories: “Business IT,” “Management IT,” and “Operations IT.”

Business IT is IT directly tied to revenue and growth. This includes marketing automation, CRM, and e-commerce sites. This is an area that business units should drive proactively, prioritizing speed.

Management IT is IT designed to enhance the quality of management decisions. This includes management dashboards, predictive analytics, and integrated ERP systems. This is an area where management must be directly involved in the design.

Operations IT is IT for stable operations and cost management. This includes network infrastructure, email systems, and security measures. This is an area best left to specialized teams.

The problem is that in many companies, these three types of IT are mixed, blurring their purposes. The IT department takes on everything, resulting in resources being consumed by “defensive” operations IT, preventing it from contributing to business growth. This structure is the root cause of the “IT department is unnecessary” debate.

The Ideal IT Organization

So, what does an ideal organizational design look like? One solution is to specialize the IT department in “Operations IT,” while distributing “Business IT” to each business unit and “Management IT” to a strategic team directly under management.

For example, a mid-sized manufacturing company split its traditional IT department into an “IT Infrastructure Division” and a “Digital Strategy Office.” The IT Infrastructure Division focused on the stable operation of networks, security, and help desks. The Digital Strategy Office, as part of corporate planning, took on the role of designing management dashboards and supporting digitalization initiatives across business units.

As a result, the number of incidents handled by the IT Infrastructure Division decreased by 30%, and the sales department’s number of deals increased by 20% following the introduction of a sales support system led by the Digital Strategy Office. The key was clearly classifying the purposes of IT and setting appropriate organizations and evaluation metrics for each.

For “Business IT,” roles like “BizOps” or “Business Development” were established within each business unit, creating a system for rapid hypothesis testing using no-code tools. The IT Infrastructure Division was responsible for creating security guidelines for these tools and building the data integration infrastructure.

The Price Management Has Paid for Avoiding IT

The essence of the “IT department is unnecessary” debate is a wake-up call for management who have failed to define the purpose of IT. It is management itself that has turned the IT department into a “jack-of-all-trades,” given it no clear evaluation metrics, and created a situation where it has no choice but to focus on “defense.”

The price management has paid for leaving IT to the “specialists” is far from small. Low ROI on IT investments, inability to integrate data across departments, and failure to improve manual business processes—all these problems stem from management not defining the purpose of IT.

For instance, in one retail company, management failed to formulate an IT strategy, allowing each department to introduce SaaS tools independently. This led to over 20 different tools being used, making it impossible to integrate customer data. Consequently, despite the potential to use AI for demand forecasting, data silos prevented its realization, resulting in lost opportunities.

This case is not a failure of the IT department, but a failure of management to define IT not just as a “tool,” but as a “management resource.”

Actions Management Should Take Immediately

Without being misled by the “IT department is unnecessary” debate, management should take the following actions.

First, classify your company’s IT into “Business IT,” “Management IT,” and “Operations IT,” and clearly define the responsible person and evaluation metrics for each. Management must be directly involved in designing “Management IT.”

Second, decide whether to specialize the IT department’s role in “Operations IT” or to separate “Business IT” and “Management IT.” Organizational restructuring takes courage, but the current situation will only continue to exhaust the IT department.

Third, consider introducing no-code tools. For example, tools like kintone (Cybozu, starting from ¥1,980/month, approx. $13/month) or Make (formerly Integromat, starting from $9/month) allow business units to improve their own operational efficiency. The IT department can then shift its role to creating usage guidelines for these tools and ensuring security.

The IT department will not disappear; it will evolve. It is management, and no one else, who will decide the direction of that evolution. The question now is whether management has the resolve to transform IT from something “left to the specialists” into a “weapon for management.”