BOSTON -- Enterprise 2.0 -- As we talk about a shift to social software and collaboration tools in the enterprise, one huge issue that still perplexes executives and IT managers is how to maintain control over everything. During a keynote at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, JP Rangaswami, chief scientist at BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), shared some words of wisdom: Let go of control.
"The enterprise has to learn to design for loss of control," he said. "The age of the locked-down desktop is finally coming to an end."
As an example of how we've overcome this in the past, Rangaswami pointed to the history of telcos: As a child, he said, his family was able to rent a black telephone. Over time, they could rent one in a different color, or buy a phone. And, eventually, telcos lost control of the device. The same is happening in the enterprise.
Going forward, as a result, the enterprise has to be able to deliver services without knowing what the end point looks like, said Rangaswami. "That process is developing, but it's accentuated by new generation... For the first time in my life I'm seeing enterprises commit to saying, 'You can bring your own desktop into work.'"
The Enterprise 2.0 conference is in its sixth year, and the same questions about control are as relevant as ever. But letting go of the devices is the easy part, says Rangaswami. The harder point to convey is that enterprises can no longer control their data either.
"Take a phenomenon like WikiLeaks... If you take something that is abundant and try to artificially make it scarce, you end up with an equal and opposite force of making the abundant thing abundant again," he said. "Whether you look at port restrictions on the PC, or [digital rights management] on CDs, the act of trying to create control on something that's trying to be abundant is responded to by a far superior force by someone who wants to release that abundant thing."
In addition to letting go of devices and data, there are a couple of other changes enterprises have to prepare for -- and new ways of thinking they must adopt -- as they delve into the 2.0 arena, says Rangaswami. Similar to the consumer space where people worry that the Internet is "dumbing us down," enterprises have to understand that we may be seeing a shift from the individual to the collective as social tools are adopted.
"As we implement systems to serve enterprises in the future we're going to have to understand this final loss of control, which is that expertise shifts from that of the individual to that of the collective. Sharing becomes the norm," he said.
Embracing loss of control may be easier said than done since this is a key concern for the enterprise. But, according to Rangaswami, it's the key to success in the future.
"Whoever succeeds is going to try to figure out how well we did in designing for loss of control... in recognizing we have to be agnostic about the device at the edge, and recognizing that, for the most part, information you have will leak."
Of course, there is still one way to control your company's data, said Rangaswami: "If anyone asks me how to make sure information isn't replicated, my advice would be don't put it on a computer and connect it."
I don't think that Enterprises Should 'Design for Loss of Control' the same way I don't think that Web 2.0/Internet tools should 'design for the Addition of control."
The issue should not be about control and the issue should not be about loss/gain but balance.
Control has some very negative connotations and is often used because control is easy. Saying you can't do X is easy. It's black and white and easy to explain. IT directors who focus on control are not doing their job.
But at the same time, developers of web 2.0 and other technologies who develop without any thought to the implications of their tools are also not doing their job. When IT departments don't welcome/adopt their tools they criticize the IT folks - rather than looking at themselves.
IT is tasked with security. IT is often tasked with ensuring data reliability and quality. IT is tasked with backing up information - retention policies.
Again - because this is hard many IT departments default to control. And, because it is hard/costly many development departments default to no control.
The challenge is to find the balance. That's the art of IT. Giving folks the tools they need while at the same time ensuring security, reliability and quality.
The best IT departments will look for balance. The best Web 2.0 products will look for balance.
That's a great point, smkinoshita. "Design for loss of control" means a couple of things: expect it to happen and have a plan in place -- but don't hold your organization back from moving with the rest of the industry out of fear because this data loss is bound to happen. I kind of take it as, if you can expect the worst you can prepare for the worst.
For the record, Rangaswami said several times during his keynote that he expected to be flamed for these words. :)
Security people like Mike Acker can gnash their teeth at this, but total client lockdown is not going to happen. Doubly so if the businesses that do operate designed for loss of control out-perform those who lock down.
Rangaswami is wrong, by the way -- if the amount of ancient media I've discovered online is any indication, even things you DON'T put on a connected computer are going to be shared. If the data leaves the controller's hands for a moment, there's a chance it will be copied, shared, and distributed across the globe.
Don't misinterprett "Design for Loss of Control" as "Woopee, free data for everyone!". Designing for loss of control in my mind includes disaster plans when private data goes public (and assuming any private data could be unleashed), making bloody sure that people are aware of dire consequences of data goes rogue on their watch, and ensuring that there's an audit trail and plenty of encryption for critical data.
In other words, "Design for Loss of Control" means designing in such a way that everything can be shared in a way that prevents harm. Note that there's no a hint of HOW to do this... just that it will be required.
(Personally, I think it will involve lots of encryption and lots of security people)
I like JP. I read his Blog. I've had the pleasure of speaking with him at a couple of different conferences over the years. He's brilliant. In this case though, perhaps a bit too purist.
It may be a bit unfair to offer the examples I'm about to because I'm not sure JP would disagree that his generally suggested conceptual model doesn't work everywhere. That is, I'm commenting on someone else's comments about JP's comments. So there's maybe a bit of context missing. And exceptions may even prove his general thoughts on a trend. Still...
I'm not sure I want the Enterprise businesses designing for digital health care records to be feeling all nice and loose about end point controls. (You might find out about that tihng growing on... well... let's just leave it at that.) And what about my Bank and Brokerages? I'm thinking if I want to go a little New Agey and flow with my digital sort-of-met-them-once-accidentially-clicked-ok-on-friend-requests buddies, that's my business. Though I'm thinking I come all the way back down to earth when it comes to letting them collectively re-allocate my portfolio because someone made a mashup to let others mess with my Brokerage account and put it up on Facebook as a joke. Yeah, I want the Banks and Brokerages to control end points.
As for Government? I'm all for transparency. Make all the Census data fully XML available so we can map ourselves to whatever augmented reality we can. I need my Four Squared butt, (not really that shape), to be definable by every faceted piece of data possible. And let me get real world real time troop deployment data for that new PS3 game I've got. WAIT, hold on... maybe not troop deployment data. Maybe Government should kind of keep that to themselves. You know. Along with things like codes, weapon designs, biochemical forumulas... stuff like that.
No. Enterprise should not be designing for loss of control. SOME enterprise for SOME applications should MAYBE CONSIDER designing for Loss of Control. The rest? Keep our stuff tightly controlled or risk a) customer abandonment, b) govenment regulation, c) litigation, d) all of the above.
In your personal life, is there anything you need an office for?
Yet, somehow, we still "work in offices"...roughly the same type of office as shown in MadMen...as they were in the 1960s, only with computers at the desks.
The only reason for "going to work" is the centralized command and control system.
Otherwise, we'd all be happily productive on our own. It's been said that everyone now has two jobs. The job they do for money, and the job they do for free -- creating, building, serving the community.
How nice it would be, if we could rectify our bi-polar work/play existences.
Good article Nicole. I think we've been this coming for a while now, but it's really starting to gain momentum now.
Web 2.0 applications are many times much easier for users to work with, and often times more effective than applications/tools supplied by internal IT departments. If users get better results from an external tool than they do from their company tools they won't use the company tool. I've seen it happen. Users find very creative ways around use of mandated programs to be able to use the systems they want. IT either needs to embrace the changes or prepare for an uphill battle.
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