CA Technologies Corporate Blog: Perspectives : technology, coit

Here's to 2013, The Year of the Customer

George Watt — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:50:00 GMT

Recently CA Technologies released our top IT predictions for 2013. There are, of course, many other interesting predictions from our customers, colleagues, and competitors alike. As I was about to close the book (or the browser) on that for another year I began to think about why we are predicting what we are predicting. What's the driving force behind it all? I came to an encouraging conclusion.

"It's peeeeeeeeo-plllllllllle!"

As Charlton Heston declared in the 1973 movie "Soylent Green"-- "It's people!" I might add, "finally!" Or, perhaps, "again!" It's all about the customer. About the consumer. About the employee. While the consumerization of IT has been a trend for a while now, it's much more than that. In fact, in 2013 it might be stated that the consumerization train has left the station. You can now choose whether you want to be on, or under, it.

In 2013 companies will begin to focus on engaging consumers (and employees) in compelling ways. Engagement will begin to drive changes in our approach to IT, some of which are already being seen through the likes of "mobile first" application development strategies. While I am not suggesting that every business will begin adopting this type of approach in 2013 (that will not happen), I do see evidence of the beginning of widespread preparation for these things; both consciously and subconsciously.

The compelling business value delivered by cloud and mobile solutions, and the consumer-led demand for both, has resulted in data moving anywhere and everywhere. With that comes a realization that we can no longer construct castle walls and moats around our data and applications to protect them. So ensuring the integrity of the identities of those who access the data becomes critical. What's even more critical is that the approach to managing security moves from one of prevention to one of service enablement.

The common thread in all of this... It's all about the consumer. It's all about the experience. It's all about engagement. And features such as location awareness and sensing provide opportunities to understand customers and employees like never before. We can now provide customers with exactly what they need, at exactly the time they need it. We can engage them "in the moment", when they most need services, and when they are most likely to purchase them, and with a minimum of input or intervention.

Fortunately, as this movement gains momentum several disruptive trends are maturing, at least to the point where they can be applied in a useful business context.; with mobile and cloud computing taking the lead, and big data closing in. So, I encourage you to take a look at our predictions, and others, and let us know what you think will happen in 2013.

*Image used courtesy of vjeran2001 via stock.xchng.

Consumer Driven IT in Review, 6th edition

Jackie Kahle — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:09:00 GMT

Act 1: Last week my daughter lost her brand new iPhone. She had just gotten it via an upgrade for only $50 since she intelligently waited until the iPhone 4S was introduced so the older one would drop in price. She thinks she left it in a New York City taxi.

Act 2: Enter iCloud, stage left. What an amazing service - cloud computing for the masses. Easily stores and synchs everything you have across all your Apple devices - photos, documents, music, apps and more. But iCloud also does something else really cool - it can locate a missing iPhone using GPS even if the phone itself has been de-activated.

Act 3 (denouement): Alas, it took my daughter a day or two to figure out that she could use iCloud to find her iPhone - and when it went to find it, the battery had died. Although it enables users in many ways, even the cloud can't fix dead hardware. Of course, a replacement would now cost about $500 versus $50, so she has re-activated her old Droid for now.

Curtain closes. If there is any proof needed that the cloud is enabling the acceleration of Consumer Driven IT, look no further than iCloud. No wonder our recent research Millennial research with IDC shows that younger workers feel very comfortable storing information in the cloud, and also find it very easy to use. Although one huge challenge is for busy consumers (like our heroine) keeping current on all that the Cloud can provide them.

Here's what else was in the Consumer Driven IT news the last few weeks:

December 15: As doctors us more devices, potential for distraction grows by Matt Richtel via the New York Times. The darker side of IT consumerization - the increasing blurring of business and personal lives can have disastrous consequences when it occurs in a hospital.

December 14: You can't separate mobility and consumerization by Mark McDonald via Gartner blogs. Mark posits that the two are completely intertwined and IT should recognize this when building their strategies. Note: Mark will be on a panel at a Consumer Driven IT event sponsored by CA Technologies in February, you can register here: www.ca.com/consumerdrivenit

December 13: Opportunity to take Consumerization of IT survey sponsored by industry guru Brian Madden. 40-question survey encompassing mostly BYOC but also touching on other aspects of IT consumerization. Completed responses have a chance to win free admission to the Biforum 2012 conference.

December 12: IT Consumerization rising faster in emerging markets by Rachel King via ZDNet. Accenture study shows India and China lead the way in the adoption of IT consumerization by organizations, to the tune of 40% adoption versus 23% worldwide average.

Study reveals IT Consumerization, Mobility and Cloud Computing increase business risk - Compuware study and press release. Compuware survey of 520 CIOs shows the consumerization of IT trend is already driving unrealistic expectations around role of IT in 74 percent of enterprises.

December 9: Revenge of the "stupid user" by Galen Guman via InfoWorld. Power has shifted to the user, but they need to bear some of the risks, too.

December 8: If you want to get consumerization right, get emotional by Derek Harris via GigaOm's WebWorker Daily. Panel of Claudia Kotcha former VP at Proctor & Gamble and Bernd Christiansen, CTO of Citrix's Online Services Division discusses the importance of "real" employee/consumer input during product design.

Twitter introduces brand pages by Todd Wasserman via Mashable Social Media. If there was any further doubt that corporate America has embraced Twitter as a key element of their customer-facing initiatives, just observe Twitter's latest move.

Through the looking glass darkly by CIO Joel Rothman via CIO Enterprise CIO Forum. Will the seamless integration of physical and virtual worlds eventually cause the term "offline" to disappear completely? Will "Anything as a Service" become pervasive? Great insights and predictions.

December 7: Consumerization of IT is a big driver of the cloud by Ted Samson, InfoWorld. Though cost-savings is often the biggest sales pitch for embracing the cloud, 33% of respondents in a survey conducted by TNS on behalf of CSC, say they've moved cloudward primarily to keep employees connected via the various computing devices that have invaded the enterprise vs. 17% who cited reduced costs

December 5: Why BYOD is not a trend by David Strom via ReadWrite Enterprise. Use whatever adage you want -- call it "back to the future" or "the more things change, the more they stay the same" - the point made here is the BYOD trend is not new. Most commenters (and we here at CA Technologies) seem to agree!

Also NEW this week from CA Technologies

Research from IDC sponsored by CA Technologies shows the impact the Millennials are having in accelerating Consumer Driven IT. Read the recently published Whitepaper and Slide deck
A relevant perspective on the Millennial research from a new Blog post by our own Millennial Lauren Pettiglio
Another funny Chief & Chuck cartoon in our ongoing series - this one about sports-work balance!

Talking 'Bout my Generation

CA Community — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:25:00 GMT

It is hard to say exactly what makes a "millennial." We all know that it is less about the actual year we were born and more about the way the world was when we were born, but what makes us truly "millennial?" Yes, technology has been available to us throughout our lives in a way like no generation before. And of course, this fostered our natural tendency to prefer the newest of these technologies, however, we are more than just the technology we crave, I promise!

Like our parents and more senior co-workers, we value relationships, only we do not need a physical presence to foster them. Our high school friends are seldom forgotten between awkward reunions because as we grow up and move on, we are still connected through tweets, status updates, and video chats. We maintain relationships across countries, and even across oceans, with relative ease. Beyond giving attention, we also crave it. We are constantly updating our status: one-third of millennials are willing to publish our physical location on social networks, just in case someone... anyone... was interested.

You may recognize us from our activity in the marketplace: peppering our social networks with questions before we even consider buying anything, constantly checking Yelp or Foursquare for reviews and insight on where to go and when to be there, and posting about 100 pictures or updates when we do anything to validate our choices among our closest 130 "friends" (and to think 28% of that happens before we even get out of bed in the morning). We get frustrated if we cannot operate efficiently from a smartphone; if we cannot access your site through a device, you just lost to your closest mobile-optimized competitor. Our behaviors have been impacting the market place for years, but now it is time to really get to know us.

We value teamwork and take pride in our accomplishments. Our parents made sure of that with all of the sports teams, clubs, and other after-school extracurricular activities that had our resumes jam-packed before we even reached high school. Our latest claim to fame? Making a name for ourselves as career-people. It may have been a slower start than we (or our parents) wanted but we are showing up in the vestibules of companies everywhere, ready to make a difference in the world as an employee.

The shift is happening; millennials are taking over. Ok, well maybe not taking over, but those of us who are not occupying Wall Street are busy making our impact on the workplace. According to a recently published report based on research conducted by IDC, 66% of this generation expects to be able to use personal devices at work, but currently 74% of IT executives place restriction of this type of use. This conflict is only the beginning of what is going to transform the role of IT and its place in the business - now the generation that bolstered the popularity and prevalence of social networking sites (like Facebook and Twitter) and devices (like smartphones and tablets) is no longer just "playing games." We are in the workplace, we are bringing those "games" with us, and we are ready to play- even if it means changing the rules of the game.

Consumerization is nothing new, but the millennials are taking this concept to the next level with our appetites for information and the corresponding availability of the technology allowing us to take action whether our employers are ready or not. "Times they are a-changing (though we're too young to know any Bob Dylan songs)," and it presents both an opportunity and challenge. As millenials move on to and up the ladder in greater numbers, IT trends are going to be increasingly driven by cultural, rather than just technological, change. We are looking to make a difference and have the technologies and the know-how to get started. Look out (professional) world, here we come!