After posing the question at a recent TechRepublic meeting, Editor-in-chief Jason Hiner answered it himself by blogging that “the oversized, centralized IT department of 2011 is a relic that’s never coming back.”

Hiner went on to explain that ten years ago, IT departments were busy helping set up “a lot of new stuff” and were assisting some workers – mainly baby boomers – making the transition into the computerized workplace. Many technologies today don’t need as much IT resources to deploy, provide end-user support for, and maintain.

“IT department of 2015 will have fewer full-time staff members, will hire more consultants, and will focus on software, mobile, and the cloud.”