CTO Blog
I used to talk a lot about ‘Shadow IT’, the increasing tendency for non IT staff to use simple web-based technology to solve their own and their local business unit’s requirements without the involvement, or even knowledge, of the IT department. Back in 2006 when I first mentioned this, and wrote about it in my first book on the new world MashUp Corporation, it was considered a shocking thought. Today it seems inevitable, and the questions about the whole topic of user-driven technology have changed from how to stop it, towards how to make best use of it.
The most common question with respect to users introducing their own iPhones has become ‘what services that are corporately beneficial can we offer’, and not how do we block them from gaining mail access?! It would seem that the decentralisation of Information Technology, or the introduction of business technology, (defined as web or cloud based technologies deployed for front office support), depending on which way you think of it, is here to stay. The question is therefore how to ‘enable’ this decentralised environment in sensible ways. It’s with this in mind that I picked up on two recent announcements.
The first is from an Intel technology blog which describes their pilot to build on their Active Management Technology, AMT, the capability to manage PCs remotely using web services. You can broaden this and say any PC accessible on the Internet can be managed by this, but the reality is we should think about this as an extension of supporting a user who is working on enterprise SaaS. This deals with one of the most concerning problems about moving enterprise users to cloud-based services and breaking down the conventional structure of IT. Bingo! What a jump forward that brings in terms of being able to ensure machines and devices remain safely covered.
The second is from HP and is the road warrior’s answer to the eternal dilemma about finding a usable printer, or more particularly the challenge of drivers. HP ePrinting has the simple answer, just send the printer an email containing what needs to be printed and that’s it. I love idea, but is this leading us towards the answer to the ongoing dilemma with IPv4 address shortages being answered by email addresses? Sorry, I am joking on that one! The serious point is that, as with the Intel move, it’s another step forward towards enabling the necessary elements for decentralisation.
As the move towards decentralisation, or focusing on front office go to market flexibility as a shift from back office process centralisation, continues to gather pace along with a general acceptance of XaaS, and clouds, I think more and more of the pieces to effectively operate and manage the environment will arrive. BUT, and there is a big BUT in this, and that’s exactly the same issue that the PC caused at this stage of the adoption cycle, what about the data?
It’s not the same transactional data problem as last time; ERP has, and will continue to solve this. It’s the challenge of market data. The interest in real-time analysis is all part of making the flexibility of decentralisation, and XaaS pay off, but if every user or small user group is acquiring and analysing their own data separately then enterprise understanding of their entire market, or ability to leverage their power is lost. When discussing this with various people I have called this impact ‘Shredding the Edge’ as it’s the most graphic description of the effect that this will have. The answer; there are two. The first is readily adoptable and will build a foundation for the longer term, and I plan to discuss this in my next blog. The second is we really need a revolution in the concept of data within the organisation and its management, a point that some of my other recent posts have commented upon.
About the author
Capgemini Global Chief Technology Officer, Andy is a member of the Capgemini Group management board and advises on all aspects of technology-driven market changes, together with being a member of the Policy Board for the British Computer Society. Andy is the author of many white papers, and the co-author three books that have charted the current changes in technology and its use by business starting in 2006 with ‘Mashup Corporations’ detailing how enterprises could make use of Web 2.0 to develop new go to market propositions. This was followed in May 2008 by Mesh Collaboration focussing on the impact of Web 2.0 on the enterprise front office and its working techniques, then in 2010 “Enterprise Cloud Computing: A Strategy Guide for Business and Technology leaders” co-authored with well-known academic Peter Fingar and one of the leading authorities on business process, John Pyke. The book describes the wider business implications of Cloud Computing with the promise of on-demand business innovation. It looks at how businesses trade differently on the web using mash-ups but also the challenges in managing more frequent change through social tools, and what happens when cloud comes into play in fully fledged operations. Andy was voted one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the world in 2009 by InfoWorld and is grateful to readers of Computing Weekly who voted the Capgemini CTOblog the best Blog for Business Managers and CIOs each year for the last three years.
I like the term ‘shadow IT’ you’ve used here. You know what’s scary? With plenty of easy-to-use techie tools on the clouds today that any child can operate comes the security risks. I just worry about the security of data on the clouds. Thanks for sharing this post.
Shadow IT as a term has been around for some years now, I even wrote about it in my book ‘MashUp Enterprises’ around four years ago. Back then it was seen universally as the ‘wrong thing’ but now with business strategy and business management focussed on decentralisation to make use of the local situation and skills including delivery as a service it is now seen as essential in the minds of many senior business managers. But then that’s what happened at about this stage of the introduction of PCs as departmental managers bought themselves and their staff their own machines. Later the importance of one enterprise cohesive shared environment became clear and then we introduced corporate IT to ensure that what might have been called ‘shadow data centre computing’ got stopped. History repeats itself!
I like the term ‘shadow IT’ you’ve used here. You know what’s scary? With plenty of easy-to-use techie tools on the clouds today that any child can operate comes the security risks. I just worry about the security of data on the clouds. Thanks for sharing this post.
Its interesting to see how the younger generation are accepting an more open environment and are less concerned with keeping many of their details ‘hidden’ or secure. I remember Scott McNealy saying in the first internet boom around 2001 – privacy is dead get over it! Seems we may need to redefine the differences between privacy and security.