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IT Has Lost Control – But Hey It's OK, The Kids are Alright
Contributed
Article by Harry Labana, CTO, AppSense
I don't mind other
guys dancing with my girl
That's fine, I know them all pretty well
But I
know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the
kids, they're alright
The kids are alright
--Townshend, Pete
(1965) The Kids are Alright
The year 2011 will be remembered as the year IT started to
lose control of its users, but 2012 will be the year it was OK to lose control,
and yes the kids (well, users and IT) are alright with this notion.
IT is on the edge of a revolution in the enterprise - the
workforce has changed and the new generation of workers prize flexibility and
they want to "dance with everyone," by bringing their own devices (Macs,
tablets, mobile phones, etc.) into the enterprise. This dance is happening now
and will continue as user needs take priority over corporate mandates. In 2012,
IT will bend to the will of the people.
Yet, we can't let the "kids" be completely unsupervised. As
we embrace new experiences, we must also develop more sophisticated
capabilities, as corporations need policies and procedures in place to protect
themselves. Desktop virtualization will help deal with this new paradigm and in
2012 user virtualization will move its focus from one of user control to user
governance.
Governance is a broad concept that covers legal and
regulatory procedures, transparency, service levels, indemnification,
notification and portability. Corporations still need to have a handle on all
these concepts from a user perspective. For example, if an employee leaves the
company there must be a way to insure that important corporate data doesn't
leave with them.
In 2012, these changing dynamics will give rise to a
data-centric world where the data and the applications are held in a central
place, not on tablets or mobile devices, thus making it much easier to govern.
Data has already started to escape more significantly from
the confines of the corporation or alternatively is actually created outside the
company, and this isn't going to change. But, what will happen in 2012, is that
the tools will be available to ensure all pieces of corporate data have an
elasticated thread back to the company, which can be snapped back at any time.
For example when an employee gives notice, IT issues a simple command and the
employee no longer has access to the important data from any device. This will
enable more transfer of trust to the user and evolve security from a perimeter
security only approach.
As we move to a world where users require more freedom and
access, the role of data will change as it becomes the common link across all
platforms and the layer to which we apply governance. In 2012, we'll come to
realize a vision where users are free to "dance" with whomever they prefer,
because data is immediately accessible via any device, in any location and can
be pulled back in an instant. This paves the way for power to be transferred
from the machines to the people, and we'll unlock technology to free human
possibility - and all will be right.
###
About the Author
Harry Labana, CTO
As AppSense CTO, Harry works with senior members of the
technical team to lead the company's strategic technical direction; working with
customers, partners, analysts and eco-system partners to drive the AppSense
vision and to evangelize user virtualization to the global technical community.
Harry is also chairman of the Office of the CTO at AppSense, where he leads a
team of senior technical managers in forming the product
strategy.
A recognized expert in desktop virtualization, Harry joined
AppSense from Citrix, where he was vice president and chief technology officer
for the Citrix Desktop Division; responsible for driving and communicating the
company's overall technology direction and product strategy to both internal and
external audiences.
Prior to Citrix, he led the global engineering and
architecture division for desktop and application virtualization at Goldman
Sachs, where he advised clients, research analysts and internal bankers on
trends and investment opportunities. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronic
systems engineering with honors from the University of Manchester in the UK.