I was listening to a webinar earlier and the speaker said “IT can no longer dominate the user, consumerisation of IT has occurred”. The more I think about this statement the more I find myself intrigued by the threats and possible opportunities for the future University wide IT strategy . People are so savvy with technology now that their own devices that they bring to the office are often more sophisticated than the hardware on offer from the University.  Things are tested in the personal world and brought into the professional world, a shift in trends, not demanding change but driving it, merging the barriers between work and home.

If the University was to embrace and capitalise on the wave of innovation being unleashed by this consumerisation of IT, the potential leverage is enormous – in terms of organisational flexibility, a more engaged and productive workforce, the ability to leapfrog established competitors, and, possibly save some money?. But what about the challenge of compliance and security of university data……

 “ But while the use of personal devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets is liberating workers, it is handcuffing many IT departments. For every salesperson using his or her personal iPad to access corporate email or CRM, there are IT managers behind the scenes scrambling to manage personal devices, protect corporate data and intellectual property, and ensure compliance”.

http://www.cio.com/article/689944/_Consumerization_of_IT_Taking_Its_Toll_on_IT_Managers accessed 15/8/12

And then the challenge that a BYOD strategy would have to encompass IT support for a huge array of personal devices e.g. Android phones and tablets, Blackberry, iPhone/iPads, windows 7 and 8 phones, kindles and kobos for staff and students  – and have staff that can be up to date and ahead of the game with emergent technologies.

Anyone want to have ago at mapping a strategy or plan around this or do we just let it happen organically????