Consumerization of IT

Perhaps the greatest single problem afflicting information technology in the enterprise today (outside of this lousy global economy) is how employees using their choice of devices to access corporate network resources impacts security. Although last month's RSA security conference ostensibly devoted its theme to the empowerment of individuals through "the great cipher," the common thread of nearly every discussion and session was the empowerment of individuals through "that pesky iPad."

We write about "the consumerization of IT" the way a surfer gets up in the morning, finds a gnarly wave, and rides it home. It's today's big story. It's also tomorrow's, and we can pretty much set our alarm clocks by its arrival. But as we work ourselves into a daily ritual, we often find ourselves having lost track of the undercurrent. It's not that we're paying no attention to it - in fact, we're seeing it every day: the commoditization of social affairs. We even complain about it, though we often fail to acknowledge it for what it is: an equal and opposite reaction.