The Consumer Is the Enterprise

One thing I know for sure is that the Consumerization of Information Technology is here to stay. In fact, I’d like to remove the dividing lines between the consumer and enterprise worlds and call it like it is – the consumer IS the enterprise. We’ve seen this in 2012 with more and more companies embracing a mobile mindset, the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), the influx of social collaboration tools and the “Internet of Things.” As Chief Information Officer (CIO) of SAP, I have to pay close attention to consumer trends because they quickly become a demand in the enterprise business. I think of my users as the consumer and there’s only one place for me to go where I can stay at the forefront of consumer trends: the Consumer Electronics Show(CES).

Attending CES for the second time last week in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to test-drive some extremely cool gadgets, apps and technologies that are changing the way we live and work and connect with one another. As I walked around the CES 2013 show floor, I was drawn to exhibits like the “Smart-Home” because it motivates me to think about what this means for the corporate world – will we see a “Smart Enterprise” in the near future? Motion detection, machine to machine communication and augmented reality may seem like a good sci-fi film but this is what is happening now in the consumer world and it won’t be long before we begin to see this in the enterprise.

For Information Technology Leaders who are contending with the technology innovation whirlwind, my key advice is stay tuned-in to the consumer because it’s a preview of what’s to come for the enterprise. I invite you to watch this short vignette of my personal CES 2013 experience and I welcome your feedback and thoughts. Please connect with me here and follow me on Twitter at @obussmann.

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