IT Departments Fear Growing Expertise of Users

flatfilsoc recommends a long article in CIO magazine on users who know too much and the IT leaders who fear them. Dubbing the universe of consumer technology the "shadow IT department," the article highlights the extent to which the boundary between users' workplace and home have broken down. It notes the increasing clash — familiar to anyone who works in a company with an IT department — between users' home-grown productivity boosters and IT's mandate to protect corporate data. The inherent tendency of the IT department to want to crack down and control technology that it doesn't supply should be resisted at all costs, according to CIO. The article outlines strategies for co-existence. It just might persuade some desperate CIO somewhere not to embark on a career-limiting path of decreeing against gmail and IM.

dont think so...

[justice7]

It takes a lot more than "I know how to build a computer .. and i play WOW all the time so i'm leet" to run an IT department. I welcome the smarter users; as long as they arent all wearing my tinfoil hat.

Scare them! It's fun!

[extremescholar]

I don't work in the IT dept at my current employer, but I spent a number of years in the trenches before working here. Just today, I was causing fear, loathing, angst, and gnashing of teeth to one of our local IT folk. I told a young lady that I was going to ghost the hard drive from a little used computer onto a USB stick. Then take the hard drive and add it to my PC since I needed more space for my music collection. She was very nervous and thought I might actually do it. I was just giving her crap, but then again; if I need space I might...

IT Isn't Master of All

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sick and tired of IT departments that try to control everything I do when I know perfectly well that WeatherBug and WinFixer are the right tools for the job. I am a smart and knowledgeable IT consumer, and I've been using these fine products at home for some time now. Why not at work too?

The day this is a reality

[Oriumpor]

Is the day hundreds of callcenters close down their Level 1 support. I always thought it funny to have columns and rows of people that do nothing but open the documentation the users have and read it to them over the phone. Since the phones are still ringing, I think this announcement is still quite a bit premature.

Re:IT dept's delay work.

[aquatone282]

It makes you wonder if they spend more time reading my email and slashdot posts than actual IT work.

Reading your email and your slashdot posts IS our actual work.

Signed,

Your IT Department

P.S. You're fired.

Re:I'm one of those rogue users...

[methangel]

This is your network admin, please come to my office. I have something to discuss with you.

Re:Yeah, what he said....

[corbettw]

Why is data so unsecured that the receptionist who plugs in her iPod can somehow get access to identity/medical histories?

Because it's an important plot device so the hero can save his family. Duh.

Re:The power user vs the not so power user

[Heisman]

Well, since user #1 is probably a typical /.er, and user #2 is probably the long leggy blond girl from accounting/payroll. I'm going to go hang out under #2's desk for a while. I'll see you guys later.

Re:I don't see a problem

[Anonymous Coward]

IT would then answer to the caller with "didn't you read the memo? why are you even bringing a USB drive in?"

We'd get all Jack Bauer on their asses and get them to admit who they were performing corporate espionage for. Trust me, after that, no-one brings in USB anything...

Whats one users life for the security of my network?

Where's this guy been for 25 years.?

[Animats]

1982 called. They wanted to tell you that some people now have PCs and aren't using the mainframe like they're supposed to.

Re:Yeah, what he said....

[Jhon]

Walk through the offices four months later, flip the keyboards, and you'll find post-it notes with the last four passwords they've used placed underneath. Typically "1, 2, , 4." Teaching doesn't work

Funny story:

During a routine maintenance job (clean workstations/mice/keyboards), one of my guys found a post-it under a plebs keyboard. It read: "Do you think I'm foolish enough to keep my password here? HAH! I use my birth date so I don't have to!"

I found the note hillarious. It was a HS kid working as a data entry drone. Now she works for me while going to college earning twice as much.

Re:Yeah, what he said....

[RMH101]

Add to this the tool who brought in an apple airport and hooked it up to the corporate network without any wireless security, so that he could sit by the window. I'd have given him a longer patch cable, if he'd asked.

Also add to this the other tool who plugged in another WAP with the internal DHCP server turned on and serving addresses in the same address range as his office network.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing? Just look what a *lot* of it can do...