[kuhn-soo-muh-rahyz]
–verb (used with object), -ized, -iz·ing.
- To make (goods or a product) suitable or available for mass consumption: to consumerize computers by making them cheaper.
- To encourage or foster the widespread consumption of (goods or a product).
Essentially consumerization is where products aimed at the private consumer market make their presence felt in the corporate world. Often more powerful and yet cheaper as well, these devices end up crossing the boundary into the business landscape.
My first experience of this was seeing my old boss return form a a foreign business trip with a shiny new toy - A Palm Pilot. ( If this means nothing to you, check it out at the museum. )
Back then, the Palm Pilot was as funky as it got, the iPhone wasn't even an itch in Steve jobs pants. The boss set it up himself and then had one of the IT guys look at it to get email functionality added. This device wasn't asset tagged, audited or managed in any way, ...it was just introduced. Over the next 12 months we saw more and more handheld devices creeping in. The more senior project managers would buy them on their travels and they would be 'borged' into the company infrastructure one at a time. Support was expected, even mandated. It was also a nightmare of Jurassic Park proportions. < exaggeration >
One would expect that tools and services would appear to control and manage this security threat, and you would be right. However peoples ingenuity knows no bounds.
Now that cloud computing has arrived in a serious manner what effect is this having on consumerization? Well, I think its fuelling it further. Slowly but surely data is moving out of the realms of the file server behind your firewall and is escaping to the cloud. People are using personal devices to access their data and share it in ways that make it too onerous to secure against. The situation is accelerated by the uptake of cloud based apps replacing 'line of business' apps behind the firewall.
Yeah, a business could lock down access to Dropbox very easily, but then the benefits are lost and the user will just change to another of the hundreds of online file storage apps that have sprung up. Many of these talk to each other via API's and there are even tools that will concatenate chunks of online storage into one unified view of data, regardless of it being spread across Amazon, Google docs, Dropbox, Box.net etc.
Users will find a way to do what they want and will actively collaborate to circumvent the fences put in their way by employers to do so. I'm reminded of the Jurassic Park quote by Jeff Goldblum (Dr Ian Malcolm) - "I'm simply saying that life , uh, finds a way..."
Personally I long for the days when DNA recombination machines are available at CostCo, I always wanted a Raptor.
We all expect more of technology, as an enabler and as a personal companion that allows us to dip in and out of our social lives during the day. I think this expectation is already so ingrained as to be irreversible.
Anyway...as businesses address the cloud computing revolution facing them, each will have to also address this issue of consumerization. More and more people will expect a level of personal control over their work devices (because of their experiences with often better tech in their personal lives) and at the same time are less able to accept corporate control over their own shiny new tablet/smartphone.
Each business will need to address the risks without ignoring the obvious benefits.
Comments are always welcome!
Back then, the Palm Pilot was as funky as it got, the iPhone wasn't even an itch in Steve jobs pants. The boss set it up himself and then had one of the IT guys look at it to get email functionality added. This device wasn't asset tagged, audited or managed in any way, ...it was just introduced. Over the next 12 months we saw more and more handheld devices creeping in. The more senior project managers would buy them on their travels and they would be 'borged' into the company infrastructure one at a time. Support was expected, even mandated. It was also a nightmare of Jurassic Park proportions. < exaggeration >
One would expect that tools and services would appear to control and manage this security threat, and you would be right. However peoples ingenuity knows no bounds.
Now that cloud computing has arrived in a serious manner what effect is this having on consumerization? Well, I think its fuelling it further. Slowly but surely data is moving out of the realms of the file server behind your firewall and is escaping to the cloud. People are using personal devices to access their data and share it in ways that make it too onerous to secure against. The situation is accelerated by the uptake of cloud based apps replacing 'line of business' apps behind the firewall.
Yeah, a business could lock down access to Dropbox very easily, but then the benefits are lost and the user will just change to another of the hundreds of online file storage apps that have sprung up. Many of these talk to each other via API's and there are even tools that will concatenate chunks of online storage into one unified view of data, regardless of it being spread across Amazon, Google docs, Dropbox, Box.net etc.
Users will find a way to do what they want and will actively collaborate to circumvent the fences put in their way by employers to do so. I'm reminded of the Jurassic Park quote by Jeff Goldblum (Dr Ian Malcolm) - "I'm simply saying that life , uh, finds a way..."Personally I long for the days when DNA recombination machines are available at CostCo, I always wanted a Raptor.
We all expect more of technology, as an enabler and as a personal companion that allows us to dip in and out of our social lives during the day. I think this expectation is already so ingrained as to be irreversible.
Anyway...as businesses address the cloud computing revolution facing them, each will have to also address this issue of consumerization. More and more people will expect a level of personal control over their work devices (because of their experiences with often better tech in their personal lives) and at the same time are less able to accept corporate control over their own shiny new tablet/smartphone.
Each business will need to address the risks without ignoring the obvious benefits.
Comments are always welcome!
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