Service desks may curse the day that Apple unveiled the iPhone, kickstarting as it did a movement which has seen consumer devices undermine the internal IT stronghold. Yet the need for IT teams to get past their prejudices towards Apple and Android products, and broaden the net of products which they support, has been further underlined by a research from Jabra, which shows that 83 per cent of office workers now regularly work remotely (the report is available here, there’s plenty of good material about demographics/types of devices being used which will be helpful for any support team investigating this issue).
At Richmond, we believe the message is clear: consumerisation is not about preferred devices, control of procurement or loss of IT control, it’s about recognising that the way people work has changed forever.
The keyword is, of course, support. The service desk/helpdesk was first created to guide a broadly technology illiterate workforce to harness PCs. A simple structure was built: IT bought technology, set it up, showed the business how to use it, and then offered a break/fix response service. In 2012, this is clearly an antiquated system - any business users can now buy an iPad or an Android phone, quickly configure it with email, calendars etc and pair it with any laptop which takes their fancy. What then happens if the service desk refuses to support their device(s) of choice or allow access to the corporate network?
It is naive to think users will give up and fall back into line by returning to their corporate approved technology. The majority of these users will simply find another way to connect, gain support through forums/web searches/their peers, and only use a work PC to use proprietary software or internal systems. If this scenario plays out and the bulk of user activity and productivity is provided by consumer devices, then the service desk becomes a limited, niche service, ignored by the bulk of its customers. Even when the economy improves, what finance director is going to support funding for a niche, underused service?
There are of course no easy answers, the need for support teams to change emphasis, retrain and become the asset they once were, is a massive undertaking. But unless service desks start making positive moves to match the changing business culture, they will pay the ultimate price - being ignored.
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There are of course no easy answers, the need for support teams to change emphasis, retrain and become the asset they once were, is a massive undertaking. But unless service desks start making positive moves to match the changing business culture, they will pay the ultimate price - being ignored.
Follow Richmond Systems on Twitter
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