In 'HP’s Tortured WebOS Positioning,' Jean-Louis Gassée makes the assertion that the consumerization of IT renders the “enterprise-only” pivot null and void.
I disagree, but first some clarity for those who aren't familiar with the term 'consumerization of IT.'
The Puss-ification of the Enterprise
Once upon a time, large enterprises (think: Fortune 2000 companies) were widely perceived to be the ideal customer, owing to their large size, well-defined and massive IT budgets, wide range of solution needs, and target-ability from a sales perspective.
All sorts of hardware, software, hosted services and consulting services companies - not to mention a significant chunk of the venture capital industry - fed off of this massive ecosystem, the impact of which meant that innovation began in the enterprise, and trickled down to the consumer.
However, when the dotcom bubble blew up at the end of 2000, coinciding with the end of the over-hyped Y2K project 'pig trough,' enterprises lost the impetus to spend aggressively on IT.
In parallel, they began to (rightly) question the ROI (return on investment) for the many projects they had funded.
In broad terms, this led to a reclassification of IT from being a strategic asset, and core differentiator, to being a liability, and a necessary evil.
Basically, the CFO trumped the CIO going forward.
Read the full post HERE.
Related:
- Apple's Segmentation Strategy (and the Folly of Conventional Wisdom)
- PlayBook: Confusing a Bag of Chicken Parts with a Living, Breathing Chicken
- The iPhone, the Angry Bird and the Pink Elephant
- Holy Sh-t! Apple's Halo Effect
- Post-PC, Tablets and the iPad: BGC Investor Call Keynote (Podcast)
