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The re-enterprization of IT

TMT Predictions 2015

Deloitte predicts that in 2015 the impetus for IT adoption will swing back to the enterprise market following a decade of consumer-led technological change.

Executive summary

 

Deloitte predicts that in 2015 the impetus for IT adoption will swing back to the enterprise market following a decade of consumer-led technological change.

From the 1950s until about ten years ago, new technologies and advanced versions of technologies were usually adopted by the enterprise first: the mass-market consumers would then take years or even decades to catch up. For example, early PCs, were purchased overwhelmingly by enterprises: aside from tech hobbyists and the curious wealthy, who needed a computer at home?

In the last ten years, however, there have been several high impact technologies where the exact opposite has been true, and the consumer has led the way. For example, large touch-screen smartphones were adopted first by consumers. Enterprises were not only slow in taking to these now-ubiquitous devices; in many cases they tried to ban or restrict their use for work purposes. Voice-over IP telephony is common in many large enterprises today, but was largely a consumer-driven product initially. Ditto for desktop video conferencing and web-based email.

Observers tend to extrapolate trends based on what has happened in the last couple of years: it’s called the ‘recency bias’. And since the most recent examples of technological adoption have been ‘consumer first; enterprise after’ (also known as the consumerization of IT ) it is not surprising that many believe this will become the dominant model of technology and telecommunications adoption from now on. However, there is strong evidence that the pendulum is swinging back to enterprise-first adoption, or at least a world where the consumer doesn’t always lead the way.

In 2014, consumers were expected to drive adoption of smart glasses; however, enterprise applications seem to be generating much more value and excitement. Similarly, three of this year’s predictions focus on technologies that are receiving a lot of consumer-related hype (3D printing, drones, and the Internet of Things), but it is businesses that are putting the technologies to practical and widespread use.

The ‘re-enterprization of IT’ may be an inelegant term, but it is likely to be a boon for the CIO, who tolerated consumerization, but largely found it posed significant challenges. Consumerization and the associated ‘Bring Your Own Device’ trend offered some benefits for the enterprise, but the sheer diversity of operating systems and form factors has been a challenge -- and if enterprise use of wearables, 3D printers, drones or the Internet of Things were being primarily driven by consumers the headaches would only be worse.

Deloitte isn’t predicting that all future IT trends will be pioneered by the enterprise. But it seems likely that the consumerization model will not be the ‘only game in town’, both in 2015 and beyond.

1For a complete list of references and footnotes, please download the full PDF version of the TMT Predictions 2015 report.

TMT Predictions 2015

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