I.T. Departments Lose Their Clout Over Phone Choices ⇢

infoneer-pulse:

Corporate I.T. departments once passed judgment on every kind of technology used in the workplace. Employees had little choice of laptops and mobile phones. But today, because of a gradual loosening in company policies, employees have far greater say.

A survey published on Thursday by Forrester Research shed more light on the phenomenon by showing, for example, that 48 percent of information workers buy smartphones for work without considering what their I.T. department supports.

“It’s great for information workers, who buy a device based on their individual working style,” said Matt Brown, a vice president and research director at Forrester Research. “It’s a big challenge for I.T. departments.”

» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)

Democratization of technology is continuing and will turn many things upside down… especially for technology support departments. It is time to think about this quote again:

“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”
— Clay Shirky”