CIOs should accept that consumer devices and services
are beingused in the workplace today, and
develop strategies to embrace them.
Speaking at Forrester Research's EMEA IT Forum in Berlin,
analyst Dr Thomas Mendel warned that devices such as the
iPhone, and services such as
Skype, have already developed significant business user bases.
This is despite concerns such as security, manageability, and the
ability of consumer technologies to scale up to meet business
demands.
But ignoring consumer technologies could affect the ability of
businesses to compete. Consumer devices are better designed, and
so-called "millennial" employees expect technology and services in
the workplace to be as easy to use as the technology they buy for
the home.
"Ten to 15 years ago, most technology innovation happened in the
enterprise. The PC was an enterprise innovation that got into the
hands of consumers. The mobile phone was an enterprise innovation
too," Mendel said.
That is no longer the case, with business devices struggling to
catch up with technologies designed for consumers. "Usability is a
big factor around the consumerisation of IT," Mendel pointed out
"But style and fashion are also becoming decision factors [for
business users]."
The economies of scale available to consumer electronics
companies are also making their offerings attractive to business
users from a cost point of view, further driving adoption in the
business environment.
But Mendel also warned that many consumer devices are not just
hardware, but closely tied to services. The iPhone, for example, is
a vehicle to deliver access to services such as iTunes, the App
Store, and the mobile operators' services. CIOs need to take the
services model into account, both when assessing the full cost of
using consumer technology in the business, and when assessing
security and reliability.
As well as consumer technology, CIOs also need to consider the
industrialisation of IT, according to Mendel.
He suggested that, increasingly, companies will want to buy
standardised technology developed on an industrial scale. Such
technology will be cheaper and more reliable than conventional
business offerings. Software will increasingly be bought as off the
shelf packages, or built into appliances that businesses can plug
in and operate.