A Bottom-Up Approach to Technology Adoption

Consumerization is a trend wherein IT technologies first emerge in the consumer market and then spread to business organizations. Contrary to the existing norm, this can be considered as a major shift in both organizational and consumer behavior. Products and offerings have become easy to use. These effects are considered to be a major driver in redefining the relationship between the employees and the IT organization. Companies and government organizations are forced to rethink the way they manage IT services & equipment. With consumerization, employees expect IT needs to be met quickly.

No organisation today can deny the fact that, at some level, enterprise collaboration has become a part of their ecosystem. There have been numerous dialogues about the benefits of adopting personal devices by corporates and how this trend is paving way for the newer technologies or businesses. For instance, ERP, CRM, SCM, along with email solutions are expected to fuel the growth of the mobility market in India. Other business opportunities that the Indian market is seeing are the interface of enterprise applications as mobile applications, integrating corporate devices and offering Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. This inward movement of consumer technology influencing enterprise technology is becoming a trend, paving way for further consumerisation of IT.

To substantiate, according to a latest ‘India Mobile Handsets Market Review' by CMR, the total number of mobile handsets shipped in India (between January-June 2012) was 102.43 mn. And during the same period, total shipments of smartphones were 5.50 mn units. It is also interesting to note that according to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in their Annual internet Trends Report 2012, the percentage of Internet access accounts for 51.63%, from devices such as mobiles, smartphones, and tablets has surpassed the access of the internet from desktops, at 48.37%, in April 2012. This is for the first time in India!

Additionally, Nasscom and Deloitte's recent report revealed that the enterprise mobility market is expected to be $140 bn by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 15%. The existing spend by enterprises on mobility is also expected to grow to 10-12% of the total IT spend by 2020, as compared to less than 5% at present. This explains the growing adoption of mobility by corporates in India.

Consumerization of IT sounds extremely exciting; however, it isn't as exciting as it sounds! CIOs face big concerns like loss of productivity, data loss, stolen corporate information and the spreading of viruses. Also, with such a fast adoption of personal devices in the corporate ecosystem, the next target for hackers will be these devices. E&Y in an article had quoted, ‘smartphones are traded in the market not for the value of the phone, but for the value of the data it contained.' It is exactly as scary as it sounds. The alarm is ringing; it is time to safeguard mobile devices in your corporate environment!

CIOs today are in a dilemma-should they allow devices (personally owned or corporate owned) at work or not. It is critical to maintain visibility and control how files are shared and used inside and outside the office. Organisations have to insure devices that enter the company.

Check out some quick tips from IT managers who integrate mobile devices at work:

• Do not neglect mobile device security! The best way to stop risk is to decide what information can be on the device and, if it shouldn't be there, block it
• Educate employees about the risks involved with the corporate data that they are carrying
• Distribute enterprise and personal apps carefully and manage those apps. Do not provide unlimited data access - give them only what they need!
• Get a device management solution and configure and secure your employees' mobile devices from a central place. It simplifies the work of administrators by making them perform both desktop management and mobile device management using a single console
• Most importantly, have a set of security policies in place

Consumerization of IT also includes bring your own device/application, access anytime anyplace, shared over multiple forms of software on multiple devices, less secure and increased risk as IT teams have little control. With the surge of smartphone devices in India, IT consumerization undeniably comes with its own set of challenges, yet we cannot ignore the adoption of this technology. An organization may not be fully equipped to manage and adapt to a newer environment, however, a plethora of device management solutions are available at surprisingly affordable costs that can help.

Consumerisation of IT will be the most significant trend affecting IT for the next decade. We take that positively and hope this trend will introduce more business opportunities in India.