There will be no prizes for pointing out that workforces are time-poor and impatient. Or that as a result, they want their technology to "just work". Nor that employees’ increasing tech-savviness leads to them using more consumer-orientated tools, personal devices and other skunkworks (loosely structured internal R&D innovation teams) to work how they want to, without so much as a "by your leave" to the IT department.
They don’t want – or expect to have to ask for – IT’s permission and they know, as much as we may hate to admit it, that it’s often quicker to self-serve than make a request. And after all, Microsoft’s change from Lync to Skype for Business is surely a sign that the barrier between enterprise and consumer tools is disappearing – a powerful, tacit endorsement of consumer IT in the enterprise.
To make another well-trodden point, as part of "IT as an enabler", IT cannot stop this happening without being dangerously prescriptive and restrictive. Employees want the consumer experience in the corporate environment – and they are actively seeking it. Anyone with a credit card can subscribe to a cloud service or an app that they find improves their day to day job, creating shadow IT on the network. Problems then arise as these solutions are often not in line with the organisation’s requirements for version control, auditing, security, reliability etc. To discourage employees from seeking their own solutions, improvements need to be made to the experience. It needs to be as simple as possible for employees, while still reassuringly controlled by IT.
But what does controlled enablement actually look like? It is nothing new to ask an IT department to walk this fine line, but it has certainly never been this fine before.
The mantra that IT needs to operate by now is "quid pro quo". New tools and apps can be brought into the corporate environment, provided (though without being an obstacle) certain guidelines and standards are adhered to. This is more proactive than demanding approval is sought from IT, but instead more akin to the mindset of providing a corporate app store.
For every daily function, IT should provide a selection of apps or platforms for employees to pick and choose from. To be of practical use, the options provided have to offer variation in their interface and use in order to prevent the principle trigger for employees doing their own thing – poor user experience. From an IT department’s perspective, they of course also require interoperability and compatibility. However the success of these platforms will often depend on creating a single sign on experience, allowing employees to gain access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them as they inevitably switch from one environment to another.
But the business will grow and evolve, which means the selection platform will need to grow with it. Which in turn will require the regular introduction of new apps. Processes therefore need to be devised that make this replicable. Even as pragmatic a document as a checklist for application security requirements or compatibility can make all the difference. But the advantages of such processes are not just of practical value to the IT department.
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Skunkworks is a hugely beneficial policy of empowerment. Organisations should encourage those outside of the IT department to develop solutions to tackle the bottlenecks that constrain their ability to be efficient. These are the people at the coal face. They have a better understanding of what the real issues are and are best placed to develop the most suitable resolution.
Corporate app platforms that are surrounded by forward-looking growth processes for new apps are the first and most fundamental step to an organisation having the necessary confidence to encourage skunkworks. IT is then providing ultimate flexibility with the protection of non-intrusive rigour, or as we put it earlier, controlled enablement.
By David Groves, Product Management Director at Azzurri Communications
