(By Info-Tech Analyst Jayanth Angl - Printed with permission from Processor magazine www.processor.com).
IT leaders don’t have it easy. Maintaining a secure and reliable IT environment, usually with an undersized team and limited financial resources, is no small task. So, when users demand access to their preferred collaboration tools, in spite of existing tools that meet stated business requirements, it’s not surprising to see a cold response from IT. However, when assessing possible security and support issues associated with consumer-focused tools, IT leaders must also keep an open mind – some could deliver real business benefit.
End Users Just Don’t Get IT…
Despite users being more tech-savvy than ever, often smartphone-equipped and active across the blogosphere and their respective social graphs, it’s safe to say that most do not appreciate what it takes to deliver and support an IT service. Sure, they don’t like it if Facebook makes an impromptu format change, Apple rejects a hotly anticipated iPhone app, or Twitter experiences yet another outage. But these events usually don’t affect their livelihood, and very few will abandon their favorite tools or services because of these slight hiccups.