For today’s IT departments and managers, there’s a palpable push towards IT consumerization. It’s happening all around – technologies are first being introduced in the consumer market, and are then impacting the IT companies through their employees. This means if you have still been trying to run things the old way, you’re the odd one out and will soon find yourself in a tight spot.
Accepting consumerization is the only way going forward, and here are some pointers on adopting it:
- Change attitudes toward consumer tech: Many businesses tend to forbid employees from carrying their devices and smart phones to work, missing out on a solid opportunity. If you are going to make consumerization work for you, the first step is of course of acceptance.
- Rethinking policies: Now that you are going to have two types of resources—company-owned and employee-owned—the old policies will not go any good. Work on creating guidelines for using these devices at work, and also develop an asset management strategy.
- Device management: The next step is to bring everything under the ambit of a mobile device management software. This will automate tasks and manage app distribution, etc., which can normally prove a difficult responsibility.
- Rethink security: Now that other devices are going to have access to your business data, you need to rethink information architecture and come up with new security models. Maybe cloud-based access points will help.
Rather than fearing the changes consumerization is brining about, companies can actually benefit and bring down costs by adopting this culture.
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