Consumer tech fuelling second Internet revolution - Gartner
Consumer tech fuelling second Internet revolution - Gartner
Oct 14, 2005: The widening use of new consumer technologies by employees within the enterprise is creating a second Internet revolution.
That is according to analyst group Gartner. In the podcast entitled "The Second Internet Revolution," Dale Kutnick, senior vice president and director of research at Gartner, and David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow, examine how the spread of these consumer technologies has increased pressure on IT departments to be more flexible and keep pace.
The podcast notes how IT organisations traditionally have resisted the implementation of consumer technologies – a trend going back some 25 years or more, starting with the introduction of the PC and repeated when the Internet emerged. Yet employees today commonly adapt technologies introduced into the consumer segment for business use, which is being done with or without the support of the IT department.
"Desktop search software is an example of a technology that was not provided by traditional vendors or traditional IT departments, but it was brought in as a grassroots effort by employees who needed the technology," said Smith. "Another example is instant messaging. It's very rare to find organisations that don't have consumer instant messaging products from companies such as AOL, Google, Microsoft or Yahoo. Very few employees are using the corporate sanctioned instant messaging products."
Many people have taken the Internet for granted since the initial boom period peaked around 2000 then waned in subsequent years. However, there have been significant recent developments. Also, in many instances, companies have continually implemented new Internet applications without much fanfare.
"The first Internet revolution got people accustomed to using the Internet for relatively mundane and simple activities," said Kutnick. "Now commercial companies are embedding Internet applications into their IT fabric."
New concepts, technologies and derivative components enterprises are building into their business processes include "Web 2.0", a term often applied to a perceived transition of the Web from a collection of Web sites to a computing platform serving applications to end users; Internet "platforms" from Google, eBay, salesforce.com and others; and nearly ubiquitous Internet access such as broadband wireless. Gartner analysts said more consumer technologies will be brought into enterprises, adding that IT organisations cannot turn their backs on consumer-based technologies.
"If you have people who are forward thinking and have ideas for how they can utilise consumer technologies, embrace it," added Smith. "Don't just say no, it's not secure, we can't support it."
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