But those expectations only go so far. Users care whether technology is easy to use or makes them more productive. They don't stop to think about how something fits into an enterprise computing environment. Corporate IT, on the other hand, has a responsibility to consider security, compliance and the impact an application or device has on the company's infrastructure. The latest consumer IT tool might need testing, management, monitoring and support. In other words, it isn't the no-brainer it may first appear to be.
It's these hidden issues that often lead IT to delay or ban consumer technology. And when this happens, IT risks appearing as an inhibitor to innovation, a part of the company that users don't rely on as much as they bypass. Many CIOs feel this in their gut. Among respondents to the survey, two-thirds or more reported that employees at their companies either download programs, use instant messaging or participate in social networking sites. But with the exception of instant messaging, fewer than half of the respondents officially support these applications.
Instead, users are getting this technology from the shadow IT department — a catch-all term for the applications and devices that are available on the Internet or from the local consumer electronics store. Users turn to shadow IT when they need to make themselves more productive and they aren't getting the tools they need to do so from corporate IT. This, in turn, opens up new challenges for CIOs and IT departments, since users have not properly evaluated the impact of these technologies. But all is not lost. Shadow IT can be managed and even leveraged — if only one rethinks the role of IT as shifting from being the provider of technology to the facilitator of its use.
Furthermore, CIOs must look beyond simple ROI and efficiency measures to calculate the value of shadow IT, says Boyd. "Personal productivity is a part of it," he says. "But it is also about feeling connected."
To succeed in this new enterprise environment, CIOs must learn the art of compromise. They need to engage users in a constant dialogue about the pluses and minuses of new technologies and to concede that users can share responsibility for choosing and managing business applications.
It also means picking your battles, so that security and regulatory compliance and the desire to preserve the current environment don't come at the expense of user productivity. And when concerns about security, compliance or manageability do win out over the potential business benefits, it is important to communicate to users exactly why that decision was made in terms that they understand.
"If you are just going to sit around in your office and pontificate about security and technology you will be in fire-fighting mode all day long," says Alan Young, CIO of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, where he supports an oil and gas company, a casino, a tribal government and an investment fund, among other businesses. "You have to evolve." Here's what to do.
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