Gartner Says IT Departments Must Give up Control

Consumerisation is the single most significant trend impacting IT in the next ten years

France, Cannes, November 6, 2006 —

Information technology (IT) departments must relinquish some of the control and responsibilities they have accumulated over recent decades to the end user, to free up time and resources to create business enhancing opportunities, according to Gartner Inc. With at least two-thirds of IT budgets currently consumed by operations, maintenance and support, there is little scope to invest in or support projects that could transform the business. At the same time, frustrated by restrictions imposed by the IT department, many users are taking advantage of consumer technologies and services and finding alternative approaches to work and collaboration in the workplace.

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 organisations 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, consumerisation is the single most significant trend impacting IT in the next ten years,” said Mr 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.  

Consumerisation is enabling powerful new communities and exciting new forms of collaboration, empowering users in a way never seen before. Internet era IT is providing incredible new insights into how people work, think, play and create.  According to Steve Prentice, distinguished analyst and chief of research at Gartner, “Things like search, Instant Messaging, Skype, podcasting, wifi, MySpace, YouTube, wikis, peer-to-peer networking and Web 2.0 micro applications have huge potential to radically increase knowledge worker productivity, but too many IT organisations are still trying to control or even prevent their use. We firmly believe that these technologies, and the ones to follow, will power the future economy provided the IT organisation lets go.”

Way forward – consider a division in IT strategy

Gartner warned that the average IT organisation 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.

“It is only by facing up to the fact that ‘central IT’ is a thing of the past that IT organisations will learn to let go and relinquish some of the control they have imposed on users for decades,” said Mr Prentice. “Our message is simple; begin today and start shifting some of the responsibilities to the user. Concentrate on the value that IT needs to bring to the business and let their power, enthusiasm and understanding of IT enable your success.”

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) programmes 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. According to Mr Prentice, this is the beauty of the solution, “Creativity most often flourishes in the heat of combat between two approaches, not in the search for consensus.”

One example that demonstrates how this might work is provided by Wikipedia, the free online, open content encyclopaedia.  A modicum of social convention can manage an ongoing ‘million-person’ year project with no technical controls. Mr Prentice explained, “When there are disputes they generally settle down quickly – often faster than at long-standing, non-Internet institutions – and any vandalism is usually repaired almost immediately.  It’s imperfect but it works.” 

Mr Prentice is clear that in the aftermath of tectonic change, there will continue to be substantial problems.  “Users will rapidly realise that with freedom comes responsibility and an unrestricted environment is not the utopia it might have appeared to be.  They will need to face up to responsibilities for basic security, backups and ethical behaviour that come with their new-found freedom.”  Mr Prentice also acknowledged that regulatory and compliance issues will need to be addressed and enterprise risk management will face a challenging set of new problems. However, Gartner believes the positive side will significantly outweigh the negative.

“Businesses need to understand what consumerisation 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 Mr Prentice.  “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.”

 

Contacts:


Laurence Goasduff
Gartner
+ 44 1784 267 195
laurence.goasduff@gartner.com

Carina Forsling
Gartner
+46 8 624 6324
carina.forsling@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.