It's cheaper, it's faster, "every employee is a technologist," and those organizations "concerned about the security issues of shadow IT are missing the point; the bigger risk is not embracing it in the first place."
How very bold or stupid?
Let everyone buy whatever they want when they want--behavior akin to little children running wild in a candy store.
So I guess that means...
- Enterprise architecture planning...not important.
- Sound IT governance...hogwash.
- A good business case...na, money's no object.
- Enterprise solutions...what for?
- Technical standards...a joke.
- Interoperability...who cares?
- Security...ah, it just happens!
Well, Mims just got rids of decades of IT best practices, because he puts all his faith in the cloud.
It's not that there isn't a special place for cloud computing, BYOD, and end-user innovation, it's just that creating enterprise IT chaos and security cockiness will most-assuredly backfire.
From my experience, a hybrid governance model works best--where the CIO provides for the IT infrastructure, enterprise solutions, and architecture and governance, while the business units identify their specific requirements on the front line and ensure these are met timely and flexibly.
The CIO can ensure a balance between disciplined IT decision-making with agility on day-to-day needs.
Yes, the heavens will not fall down when the business units and IT work together collaboratively.
While it may be chic to do what you want when you want with IT, there will come a time, when people like Mims will be crying for the CIO to come save them from their freewheeling, silly little indiscretions.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)