Speaking at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo in Cannes, Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner explained that while many of IT's responsibilities are still mission critical, IT organizations need to bend to the realities of and opportunities associated with consumer, Internet and fast-emerging technologies if their businesses are to prosper.
"Without a doubt, consumerization is the single most significant trend impacting IT in the next ten years," said Sondergaard. "However, it is not really about new technologies -- virtually all of them are available today. It is about attitudes towards and usage of technology. There is a societal shift taking place which, when combined with access to and acceptance of newly affordable technology, is driving change in usage and the business model. Companies will have to come to terms with a fundamental change in traditional business models and drivers."
To fully benefit from this phenomenon, Gartner advised companies to reduce spend on physical assets and increase spending on the human aspects of their businesses.
Gartner warned that the average IT organization is ill prepared, and in many cases ill equipped, to cope with this consumer revolution. Over the past twenty years, many responsibilities have been added to the role of the IT department, but few have been taken away. The result is over-loaded IT attics that need a good clear out. This situation can only escalate as executives have to face up to the requirements of the 'digital natives' (the first totally digital generation comfortable with and fully immersed in digital technology), who will not tolerate illogical restrictions on their technology usage.
Gartner advises most enterprises to consider a division of strategies and activities between the things that are centrally determined and those that are left to 'the market', or user.
The enterprise should manage to shift considerable expense to the users for both equipment and associated support, and IT will gain efficiencies as they perform less work and provide fewer services. There are already examples that this is underway. A Gartner survey last year found that 29 percent of employees were using non-company-owned hardware on company networks and survey respondents expected this figure to grow to 42 percent by 2008.
Gartner said this is not a call for complete chaos. Traditional IT disciplines are needed to architect certain (typically large-scale, long-term) programs and projects such as managing ERP and accounting systems. The market-side, however, may be a better source for simple 'bleeding edge,' Internet based, team oriented collaborative applications.
"Businesses need to understand what consumerization is doing to their customer base, acknowledge that the rules of distribution have changed and with them the traditional methods for building and maintaining their IT systems," said Steve Prentice, analyst and chief of research at Gartner. "Understanding exactly what your employees are doing in a non-judgmental manner will reveal great opportunities for improved collaboration and innovation. Growth and competitiveness will come to those who invest in ways to transform themselves for the future -- not those who fight it."
