Actually, in some places it's already arrived. In a recent AIIM E-Doc article, Alan and I explore the pros and cons of some newer configuration interfaces that enable businesspeople to take greater control over their Web CMS and ECM implementations. To quote:

While this isn't an entirely new problem, the proliferation of Web application layers across nearly all content and document technologies has simultaneously introduced a new fragility to these tools along with a tacit expectation among business managers that they should be modifiable in "Web-time."

Indeed, but there are consequences to modifying applications willy-nilly. At the end of the day, you still need configuration management...just a different kind.