Webopedia New Term of the Day: What is Consumerization of IT?

“Consumerization of IT (“consumerization”) is a phrase used to
describe the cycle of information technology (IT) emerging in the
consumer market, then spreading to business and government
organizations, largely because employees are using the popular
“consumer market” technologies and devices at home and then
introducing them in the workplace.

“Consumerization of IT Security Concerns: Consumerization of IT
not only refers to the use of personal consumer electronics at work
— like iPhones and tablet PCs — but also online services,
including online data storage, web-based email services (“web
mail”), and social media or social networking sites like Facebook
and Twitter.

“Consumerization is driven by employees who buy their own
devices, use their own personal service accounts, install their own
applications and then connect to the corporate network — often
without the organization’s knowledge.

“For corporate and government organizations, the challenge for
IT is that employees using unapproved technologies and devices at
work is a network security risk, but even with that understanding
is the knowledge that these technologies will still come in to the
workplace and be used, even if corporate security policies are in
place.”

Complete
Story