Gartner Says Consumerization Will Be Most Significant Trend Affecting IT During Next 10 Years
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| Gartner Says Consumerization Will Be Most Significant Trend Affecting IT During Next 10 Years |
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| Analysts Examine How Organizations Must Manage the Effects of Consumer Technologies During Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, October 17 - 21, in Orlando |
ORLANDO, Fla., October 20, 2005 - The growing practice of introducing new technologies into consumer markets prior to industrial markets will be the most significant trend affecting information technology (IT) during the next 10 years, according to Gartner, Inc. As a result, the majority of new technologies enterprises adopt for their information systems between 2007 and 2012 will have roots in consumer applications. The large scale, high-volume unit production, and potential profit opportunities available to leaders in consumer markets have convinced many leading IT vendors to focus more resources and innovation on consumer products and services during IT industry's slow recovery from the dot-com collapse. As technology providers increasingly design products for consumers, enterprise IT managers have to learn how to manage these products as employees bring them into varieties of workflows and processes. Gartner analysts discussed the consumerization of IT at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here through October 21. "Consumer IT will affect every enterprise" said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "Attempts by enterprises to deny this are doomed to failure, just as previous attempts to deny Wi-Fi, 'smart' mobile phones, the Internet and even the PC itself failed." Lower cost, consumer-grade technology represents an unavoidable challenge for the CIO, but it is also an opportunity if savvy choices are made about where and when to enable and support its deployment. "As perceptive CIOs seek to transform their rigid, legacy-ridden infrastructures into agile, efficient, service-driven delivery mechanisms, they must adopt a pragmatic approach to managing the risk of consumer IT while embracing the benefits," said Steve Prentice, vice president and research director at Gartner. "Otherwise, the CIOs risk being sidelined as the 'enemy' by their constituencies." Although corporate policies and monitoring may restrain employees from surfing unsuitable content online, employees will do their home banking, book holidays, instant-message with friends (and work colleagues), and help research their children's homework. Few organizations have been able to prevent the use of freely available consumer software, such as Google Desktop, America Online and Skype, because it is seen by users as a valuable tool in their daily work. "The usability, availability and reliability is compelling and is providing value to people," Mr. Smith said. "Traditional enterprise software remains critical, but many functions can be accomplished through technologies designed for consumers." The growth of the consumer segment is the single biggest factor that will drive semiconductor demand during the next 10 years. The dominance of consumer markets will have dramatic implications for other sectors. "Consumer markets will drive much of the industry's underlying research and development, rather than the military and business markets," Mr. Prentice said. "This will significantly reduce product life cycles. Consumer products are geared toward ever-decreasing product life cycles." |
