In the next five years IT departments will be redundant according to claims made by desktop hosting service Nasstar.

According to the firm's chief executive, Charles Black, the majority of office workers will log onto the internet to access everything they need, leaving the IT department surplus to requirements.

Black said: “IT has become a utility. And in the same way companies do not have a chief electricity officer to help people plug in and power their devices, so the costly overhead of IT management will be replaced by a simple plug-and-play approach over the internet.”

According to Black, budget, man hours and productivity are currently being scarified to manage desktops and on-premise systems, but this will become a thing of the past as the internet will provide businesses with their core day-to-day applications such as Microsoft Office, accounting software, CRM systems and even customised applications.

“The IT industry is in the middle of an industrial transformation, which is ending the need for IT staff that install and support traditional on-premise desktop computers,” he added.

“As with any industry where technology transforms the way things work there’s going to have to be re-deployment of skills. IT staff should have their skills focused on delivering competitive advantage for their businesses rather than being retained to deliver standard computing services that are a utility and delivered over the internet. Companies should be quick to change the focus of their IT department to be business development departments that ensure business success,” said Black.