Back before the modern enterprise software market started, the question of who was in charge of IT had begun to unravel. The all-powerful CIO running the all-powerful data center was being pressured by a technology trend — distributed computing — that threatened the centralizing power of both the data center and the CIO.
Then integrated enterprise software suites emerged and the power center began shifting back to the CIO. The importance of integrating multiple back-office functions gave renewed life to the CIO as the overseer of this increasingly complex, largely monolithic, computing model. And a valued relationship between the CIO and suite vendors emerged that endures to this day.
The relationship endures yes, but does it still dominate IT spending and, in particular, spending for innovation? As a recession now heaves into view, an interesting set of questions is arising about whom vendors should pitch their wares to, and who on the user side is responsible for paying for innovative solutions that represent the leading edge of the enterprise.
There appears to be a shift favoring a buyer class that has been gaining clout since the last recession: line-of-business managers. As these buyers became more engaged in purchasing new technology, the market circa 2001 responded with a growing number of point solutions targeted at solving specific line-of-business problems.