Vision from the Top 2013: Bill McNee, Saugatuck Technology

Which of the following current topics will significantly change the market in the next year? And what is the impact?

Mobility and BYOT

Hand-in-hand with the Consumerization of IT is the rise of “Bring-Your-Own-Technology” (BYOT). We are using this term, rather than the popular “BYOD,” as what is happening in the enterprise – and what ISVs need to enable and support – is not just about mobile devices, but also personal applications, Clouds, services, and data within the enterprise.

Our research shows that BYOT is poised to become the next major development in the way enterprise IT is delivered, following closely on the heels of a complicated, loosely-coupled new Master Architecture built on top of hybrid Cloud environments, Collaborative and Social IT, Analytics, and enterprise Mobility. What sets BYOT apart within the enterprise is that it marks a relinquishing of hardware ownership in addition to software and business process ownership. The shift to BYOT then is part of a continuous and broader change in the role of IT, from hardware and software delivery to business enablement.

ISVs – really, any providers of device management software and cloud applications – are key enablers of BYOT. As enterprise IT departments become more focused on the loosely-coupled Master Architecture, they will rely more heavily on close partnerships with their vendors to help maintain and deliver these solutions.

An increasing number of conversations in our research indicate that CIOs and other enterprise leaders want more robust relationships with their vendors. A critical aspect of BYOT then, is that due to the customers’ constantly-evolving needs, vendors need to step up and position themselves as partners to Business leaders, and allies to IT groups.

In that “new partner” role, it will be up to the ISVs to provide users with further best practice guidance, as well as keep their IT departments updated as to the various security threats, new versions, and new devices that need to be identified within an organization. Also, as vendor capabilities expand to include more systems, devices, and capabilities, it will be important to help IT clients understand how these changes can and should affect their existing strategies for BYOT, as well as company-owned software and devices.

This interview was published in SIIA's Vision from the Top, a Software Division publication released at All About the Cloud 2013.