Slashdot Mirror
IT Departments Fear Growing Expertise of Users
flatfilsoc recommends a long article in CIO magazine on users who know too much and the IT leaders who fear them. Dubbing the universe of consumer technology the "shadow IT department," the article highlights the extent to which the boundary between users' workplace and home have broken down. It notes the increasing clash — familiar to anyone who works in a company with an IT department — between users' home-grown productivity boosters and IT's mandate to protect corporate data. The inherent tendency of the IT department to want to crack down and control technology that it doesn't supply should be resisted at all costs, according to CIO. The article outlines strategies for co-existence. It just might persuade some desperate CIO somewhere not to embark on a career-limiting path of decreeing against gmail and IM.
I'm sick and tired of IT departments that try to control everything I do when I know perfectly well that WeatherBug and WinFixer are the right tools for the job. I am a smart and knowledgeable IT consumer, and I've been using these fine products at home for some time now. Why not at work too?
Is the day hundreds of callcenters close down their Level 1 support. I always thought it funny to have columns and rows of people that do nothing but open the documentation the users have and read it to them over the phone. Since the phones are still ringing, I think this announcement is still quite a bit premature.
Reading your email and your slashdot posts IS our actual work.
Signed,
Your IT Department
P.S. You're fired.
What?
Well, since user #1 is probably a typical /.er, and user #2 is probably the long leggy blond girl from accounting/payroll. I'm going to go hang out under #2's desk for a while. I'll see you guys later.