Just in case you’re not sure.
BOHICA stands for Bend Over, Here It Comes Again.
It started with BYOD or Bring Your Own Device. A plague with far too much material online for me to feel the need to add to it with descriptions and discussions here.
In short, BYOD is defined as “Let Employees use whatever equipment they want and stop bitching. It’s IT’s job to be responsible for it even if they’re not allowed to control it, take the blame for it when it goes wrong, and clean up the mess afterwards.”
Now, the newest incarnation of this trend is “Consumerization of IT”
Since we’re partially discussing word definitions.
Consumerization: n. The act of making things suitable for Consumers.
Consumer: A person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
IT: Short for Information Technology. The Department within a Company that is responsible for managing company owned computers, networks, and other business related technology.
So, hmm. “Consumerization of IT” essentially means:
“Let’s take all this software that’s designed for Consumers, aka “personal use”, toss it into a Business environment, and then make IT responsible for whatever damage this causes.”
That description is embellished a bit but it’s still very nearly the exact definition of the Consumerization of IT trend.
Our Employees want a square peg to fit into this round hole so by god we’re going to hammer it in and you guys better deal with it and clean up the mess!
And, to add to this, as IT Professionals, we’re “resistant to change” or “too controlling” or just cranky if we object to this idea and try to suggest issues with the opening of the flood gates for uncontrolled usage of software, hardware, and services designed for “Personal Use” within a Business environment.
Plus, not only are we not supposed to be “resistant to change”, we’re expected to be held accountable for the damage this trend causes, when it happens (not if), and happily clean up the mess afterwards.
The Consumerization of IT trend is being 100% pushed by companies that stand to gain huge sources of revenue from it, will have zero liability for it when it causes damage because, hey, it’s designed for personal use it’s the companies choice to use the software for an environment it wasn’t designed for, and it’s the job of the IT Department to clean up the damage.
To top this whole idea off, it’s being swallowed whole by the Enterprise/Business world as a majority like the good little Corporate Lemmings that they are.
BOHICA fellow IT Professionals and fair warning, there is no lube or rubber gloves being used this time.
Wait they used lube and rubber gloves last time?