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The Consumerization of IT

Last week, I wrote about one of the topics that was debated at TechRepublic's annual conference in Louisville at the end of June (software evangelism and the long-time operating system wars). This week, I'm going to be talking about another topic that came up there - this one the subject of a formal presentation by TR editor Bill Detwiler. This has been a hot topic in the IT industry recently: how the corporate network is becoming more and more "consumerized." Bill did a great job of summing it up in a short thirty minutes. Here's a quick summary of the main points he made:
http://www.wxpnews.com/4CHNK9/100713-Tech-Conference

The words "consumerization" and "consumerized" aren't in Microsoft Word's dictionary; they're marked as misspellings with no suggested corrections as I type this. The folks at Microsoft, however, are well aware of what the terms mean and they have been discussing the implications of the trend for a while:
http://www.wxpnews.com/4CHNK9/100713-Industry-Trends

As Bill graphically illustrated in his presentation, once upon a time the business world was the driving force behind computer technology. New technologies started out at work and then "trickled down" to the home. That included computers themselves, local area networking, wide area networking (WAN) communications, sophisticated software applications, mass storage, backup solutions, flat screen monitors, scanners, faxes, video conferencing, ergonomics, and many more. As these technologies became common in the workplace, their prices dropped and they became available and affordable for home users, as well.

What we're seeing today is a reversal of this flow. Technologies that are developed initially for the consumer market are making their ways "up" into the corporate networks. We see this with products such as netbooks, the iPhone and iPad, and high end video cards that were first adopted by gamers and later for workplace use, and with web applications such as web mail and social networking.

Most of the analysts who study this phenomenon agree that it's being driven by the entry into the workplace of young people who have grown up with computers. Some call them "Millennials" and some call them "Generation Y" but whatever you call them, those who were born between 1980 and 2000 comprise the first generation of people who were exposed to computers and electronic devices of all kinds from their earliest years.
http://www.wxpnews.com/4CHNK9/100713-Generations

My son is (barely) a member of that generation. Born in 1983, he grew up playing with my Commodore, TRS-80 and IBM PC computers. To me, it was still little short of miraculous that I could own a real computer; I grew up in a time when computers were huge things that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. To him, having a computer in the house was just as normal as having a telephone or washing machine in the house had been to me as a child, although I'm sure those devices seemed like minor miracles to my grandmother when she first got them.

Those who grew up in the computer age have a different attitude toward the machines. Their expectations are different. Older workers see the machines they use at work more as tools owned and controlled by the company. Younger workers see the computers they work with - regardless of who owns them - more as extensions of themselves. Kids are used to going to any websites they want, installing any apps they want, and using their systems as personal communications devices at home. When they come into the workplace, they expect to be able to use the computers there in the same way.

This, of course, often results in a gigantic clash with management and IT administration. The company is concerned about security and control. They see the young folks' way of working as anarchy and it scares them. Of course, many of their concerns are valid. Young people are often careless about their own safety - in the physical world and online. They suffer more than their older colleagues from the "It won't happen to me" syndrome, and many of them will wander recklessly onto malicious web sites where they could inadvertently download viruses and other malware, endangering the company systems and network.

On the other hand, company managers need to recognize that these young people are likely going to need more freedom than older workers in order to be happy and productive. They work differently; they're better at multi-tasking, and although they can be made to understand and comply with necessary security precautions and reasonable rules, they rebel at being micromanaged and controlled just for the sake of control. If you hold the reins too tightly, the most talented among them will either leave to work elsewhere or see it as a challenge to circumvent the controls. That's why companies are finding that policies totally banning all social networking sites or prohibiting employees from bringing in their own smart phones or laptops work with older workers but are not working so well with younger ones.

Young people see more than a touch of hypocrisy in a work environment where they're told they can't take a short break to IM a spouse or check in on their Facebook friends, while they see other workers spending half the day hanging out at the water cooler discussing last night's TV shows or visiting one another's cubicles to gab about their grandkids' exploits. They have a different way of socializing and they feel discriminated against - especially if they feel they're getting more work done than those whose older style of socialization is condoned.

And that brings us to an important concept that companies will need to grapple with as they employ more and more young workers. Is the company's measure of a "good worker" time clock based or productivity based? What matters most: that a worker is spending all of the time between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. plodding away at a spreadsheet or company document, or how many of those spreadsheets or docs are actually produced (and the quality of the work)? The challenge for managers is to find a balance that will take advantages of Gen Y workers' ability to work quickly and shift between projects and personal interactions while maintaining a high level of security and productivity.

Management and IT first reacted to workers bringing their own computing devices in with abject horror. Now many companies are embracing the idea, seeing it as a cost-saving measure. If workers bring their own cell phones or laptops, that's something the company doesn't have to buy for them. It also allows for workers to use the devices that work best for them, instead of the one model of company- issued phone or portable computer. But it also opens up a big can of worms. Does the company now become liable for what the employee does with those devices? Can the company policies prohibit things like downloading illegal music or watching porn videos on the devices if the employee paid for them? Is it "unprofessional" for company reps to have games and entertainment apps on the phones they use for business?

There is much to be worked out as the business IT world becomes more consumerized and has to adapt to a cultural shift brought about by a changing workforce. Tell us what you think. Should businesses "just say no" and stick with the strict policies that have worked well for years? Or have those policies really worked well, after all? Are kids today just undisciplined and self-centered and out of control? Or do they have a point when they say the world is changing and businesses need to change to better accommodate their working styles? Does your company allow employees to bring in their own devices? If so, what restrictions (if any) do they place on the use of those devices? Do you agree or disagree with their policies? We invite you to discuss this topic on our forum at
http://www.wxpnews.com/4CHNK9/100713-Forum-Discussion