Gartner Says Consumerization Will Be Most Significant Trend Affecting IT
During Next 10 Years
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."