Forrester Research recently posted a research note explaining why IT Department shouldn’t and won’t support iPhones. While I disagree with some of the concerns mentioned by this company (specially those related to security since the content on the iPhone is usually stored on a server, not locally) I have to recognize that they make some valid points.
There has been a heated debate on the Internet as to wether the analysis was correct or not. A Wall Street Journal blogger counters Forrester’s opinion by interviewing a relatively small business owner who defends the iPhone in a work environment. I must say that I am not impressed by this article. The fact that this particular business user doesn’t get the valid concerns expressed by Forrester doesn’t mean that their analysis is flawed. This is in my opinion like all the web developers who defend simple languages like Ruby or PHP over Java simply because they do not understand the complex problems that Java is designed to solve.
What Forrester Research assesses correctly though is the incredible power held by business users. They tend to totally ignore IT when they want to get things done quickly. In this case the iPhone is such an improvement over previous technologies that IT will have to support them, like it or not. Remember, IT doesn’t run the business, they are usually regarded as an obstacle to progress. If users clamor for technology they will eventually get it. If it were any different we would still be using dumb monochrome terminals. Even though I am an IT guy I must say that I am really happy to see the power of end-users. Sure, it makes our work much harder, but it also keeps innovation running and that is extremely positive.