IT at the office used to be superior to what people had at home. Those days are over. Today the professional environment seems hopelessly outdated compared with the state-of-the-art iPods, smart mobile phones and multimedia desktops we have at home. We use MSN to communicate and are active on a host of web networks. And we’re no strangers to using web applications like Google desktop search and Firefox. Incredibly handy applications that are not standard at the office.
Many an IT department responds in the predictable manner by banning unauthorised software and hardware. It wastes storage space, destabilises environments and pokes holes in security. A logical ban? No. Employees want to work in a smart and convenient way and it helps if they can work with technology that they have chosen themselves. Also worth remembering is that the dividing line between our professional and private life is becoming blurred. We check our e-mails at home and continue working on projects via instant messaging and file sharing. And the other way round, we arrange home-related matters online from the office.
Social networks on the internet set a good example for project management software for the office. Knowledge is truly shared. Consumer technology is increasingly making its way into companies, because people are familiar with it and therefore enjoy using it. Isn’t that what we as IT want? Moreover, innovation is pivotal in business and that means cooperation between people and departments. If you declare war on employees for choosing in favour of their own technology, you declare them your enemies. And teamwork with your enemies is of course out of the question. Power users are innovation boosters. You don’t want to force them underground like digital guerrillas or push them out of the company.
mail this article