Jargon buster: What is consumerisation?
Consumerisation describes the emergence of new technology in the consumer market, such as tablet computers, social networking or DVDs, and its subsequent adoption in the corporate world.
Wikipedia defines it like this:
Consumerization is a stable neologism that describes the trend for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business organizations, resulting in the convergence of the IT and consumer electronics industries, and a shift in IT innovation from large businesses to the home. For example, many people now find that their home based IT equipment and services are both more capable and less expensive than what is provided in their workplace. The term, consumerization, was first popularized by Douglas Neal and John Taylor of CSC's Leading Edge Forum in 2001 and is one of the key drivers of the Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 movements.
Some businesses are embracing ‘bring your own computer’ (BYOC) where they give employees a subsidy towards their purchase of their own computer which they then use for work.
From HP’s perspective, there are some interesting aspects:
- The use of consumer hardware at work and vice versa. For example, entrepreneurs and managers may buy a high-end consumer notebook, such as an HP Envy and then use it for work.
- The spillover of consumer technology into hardware designed for business. For example, the HP Slate 2 is designed for business use but has a touch screen like a consumer tablet.
- Broader technology trends around social networking and how they can be used in business.
- The role of virtualisation and cloud computing to deliver business applications onto BYOC systems.
We will explore the pros and cons of consumerisation during December.
