The consumerisation of IT – beware common assumptions: IDC

The technology might exist to provide employees with access to applications and data while mobile, but do they want it? Organisations should be aware of making assumptions about the consumerisation of IT, according to IDC, as recent research shows that some commonly held views do not reflect the preferences, perceptions and usage of technology by enterprise employees in Australia and New Zealand.

"The consumerisation of IT story is not yet grounded in hard and fast data on the vast majority of enterprise employee preferences, usage and expectations around IT in ANZ," said IDC senior analyst, Trevor Clarke. "However, the sustained and vocal consumerisation narrative currently reverberating around the industry and the solutions being proffered for addressing it will effectively become the target state for many organisations unless they proactively formulate a long-term workspace strategy that addresses the desires of the employee majority balanced with key or vocal influencers' views and  organisational goals."

In its recent report, The A/NZ enterprise employee survey: Testing the top 7 assumptions about the consumerisation of IT, IDC deconstructs seven of the key assumptions about the consumerisation of IT.

The assumptions tested as part of the survey included: employee preferences for consumer devices and applications; understanding of security risks; whether career decisions are influenced; and the desire for anywhere, anytime computing. The report provides a breakdown of employee perceptions, usage and expectations by user type, vertical industry, age group, workgroup and organisation size.

"The most important workspace ingredient is people and not technology. CIOs and external SPs must understand where the consumerisation of IT influences are actually coming from and likely (or not) to be propagated to address existing shortcomings or obtain the necessary stakeholder buy in for future workspace plans," Clarke said.

"Attention should first be focused on executives and ensuring they clearly understand the implications of this trend given their influential position."

The survey results indicate that the ICT industry and CIOs and IT decision-makers need to evaluate many of the core assumptions being propagated including those related to younger employees - particularly their appetite for 'anywhere, anytime' computing, and having access to applications and data while mobile or out of the office.

IDC plans to continue its research with a series of reports providing a comprehensive analysis of the state of workspace ecosystem plans across ANZ.

 

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