According to Wikipedia, the Consumerization of IT will, somewhat amazingly, be 10 years old this June; and of course everything we read on the internet is true. Again quoting Wikipedia:
"Consumerization (of IT) is the growing tendency for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business and government organizations."
But do employees really want the Consumerization of IT or do they want something that is actually radically different?
Consumerization of IT feels like it is everywhere
These days it's hard to find articles about "end-user computing" that don't play the "Consumerization of IT" card, even if in a misguided way. Along with cloud, mobile, social, and "big data" it seems to be a go-to buzzword for those selling, buying, and advising on employee-related IT and services.
Sadly (but not unexpectedly) though, Consumerization of IT is often seen as BYOD (or BYOT) — bring your own device (or bring your own technology) — the use of personal PCs or Macs, smartphones, and tablets or the use of personal apps and personal cloud services for work purposes. Although if recent surveys are to be believed, enterprise CYOD programs are already usurping BYOD, that's: choose your own device. Don't you just love acronyms.
However, IMO what employees really need is UWMYMP, that's: use what makes you most productive, with logical caveats around cost, security, and "integration." And obviously this less-than-catchy acronym will never catch on.
So Consumerization of IT is more than BYOD
Yes employees have been "unhappy" with, or at least "underwhelmed" by, their corporate IT experience not keeping up with their personal IT experience for a while but there is so much more to Consumerization of IT than just the devices and mobile apps. It's more than the IT services employees consume — employee expectations of the corporate IT organization also relate to service or the service experience.
Just let me repeat that: employees have expectations related to services AND service. Does it sound like gobbledygook?
Think Consumerization of Service
So for those enterprise IT organizations that have provided corporate Apple or Samsung products, or have introduced BYOD or CYOD schemes, or have just catered for non-corporate hardware, is this enough to satisfy employee service experience expectations? Probably not.
Employees might talk of having better devices outside of work but they are also enjoying a consumer service experience that includes a focus on ease-of-use, self-service, service request catalogs, anytime and anyplace access, knowledge availability, social or collaborative capabilities, and customer-centric support. Thus the provision of new corporate devices or implementation of BYOD and CYOD programs is surely not enough to halt the growing gap between the corporate and consumer service experience.
And Consumerization of Service is not limited to IT
The IT organization is not alone in potentially lacking on service experience. Other corporate service providers such as HR and Facilities are subject to the same pressures. And they should be. Employees deserve so much more than an antiquated, manual, and possibly unstructured approach to dealing with service requests. Some consumer service providers make service delivery look and feel so easy, if not painless. So how long will it be until corporate service providers have to step up to these new consumer-driven levels of service experience? We are seeing it now, with enterprise service request catalog or storefronts in high demand.
So are you feeling the pressure in your IT organization? Or do you have it in hand? Maybe you are helping other corporate service providers step up to the higher level of service experience now offered by IT. I'd love you know where you are and any advice you can offer to your peers.
