Sedition is simmering in the halls of corporations the world over, as the thirst for productivity and new tools grows faster than IT organizations can quench it with supply. 2012 promises to be the most transformative year for end user computing since the release of the IBM PC in 1981. The escalation of 4 trends - each individually interesting but together explosive, will bring phase changes in the way Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives work, and offer previously captive employees new options for productive freedom by this time next year.

1. As in IT revolutions past, on the front lines are restless high-performers (executives, technology pros and creatives), whose nature drives them to push the limits of themselves, their tools, and their support networks, and bring their own technology to the office when their employers won't provide it. More employees will bring their own computer to the office than ever before in 2012 - most of them Macs - and if IT won't support them, they'll find another way that doesn't include IT.
2. Cloud-based applications and services such as Dropbox and Projectplace are convincing these folks that they can get better results faster, without IT involved. And these services are priced at a point where it's cheaper than a few skinny soy chai lattes (no whip!) every week, so many employees just pay the tab themselves.

Netflix has come to its senses and revised its strategy in favor of the customer. After a recently announced decision to split out its DVD business from its streaming business, Netflix received a barrage of criticism from customers -- including my last blog post, where I questioned the wisdom of this strategy. Today, CEO Reed Hastings announced a 180-degree about turn -- well done Mr. Hastings. While it would surely have been wiser to have made a better strategic decision in the first place, changing course in face of customer criticism at least shows Netflix is still willing to put its customers first.

This turn of events highlights the difficulty of getting strategic planning right. While abstract analysis of strategic options may point to an optimal choice for any set of circumstances, any strategic analysis which ignores customer impact is fatally flawed. As my colleague Luca Paderni and I pointed out in our recent keynote at the Forrester CIO-CMO Forum, companies must become customer obsessed. Indeed, we highlighted Netflix as an example of a company that had succeeded in large part because it was customer obsessed and had mastered the customer data flow in a way that increased customer value.

There is a lesson here for us all ... success in the future will go to those companies willing to become customer obsessed and put the customer ahead of Wall Street.

I recently appeared on CIO Talk Radio to discuss the growing challenge brought by increased diversity of computing devices in the workplace and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. There is no question that customers are increasingly embracing their own technology in the workplace, and in many cases believe the technology they themselves own is superior to that provided by their employers. The tablet computer is certainly one big part of this, and the ultimate impact may be as disruptive as that brought by the original PC.

IT executives like Steve Phillips, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Office of Avnet, my co-panelist on the CIO Radio broadcast, are beginning to see that desktop virtualization provides a potentially useful means to separate the realm of the corporate environment from the private world of the device user in this increasingly diverse environment. Outsourcing suppliers are definitely seeing this trend. They are gearing up for the potentially significant opportunity by running pilots and helping customers implement desktop scenarios, although with some differences from the past: For one thing, a focus on a more selective tiered approach to desktop virtualization as opposed to a one-size-fits-all. That tendency, along with the accompanying high cost for bandwidth, were a stumbling point in the past, as well as several other factors described by my colleague Steven Johnson.

But what do you think? And if considering desktop virtualization, do you envision a role for service partners or will you go it alone?

The IT Infrastructure & Operations (I&O) community has long been awash with management buzzwords and phrases such as "think outside the box," “bare metal,” “IT-to-business alignment,” “ivory tower,” “NextGen,” “people, process, and technology,” “innovation,” "what does good look like?" and “resonate.” More recently we have had to endure such gems as “cloudwashing,” “hash tag abuse,” “virtual sprawl,” and “cloudenomics” (please take a deep breath, don’t let them wind you up).

Another longstanding “buzzphrase” (no, I didn’t make this word up) is that I&O organizations need to “run IT as a business.” I imagine that most of us have used it (I plead “guilty” milord), at least in conversation, but do we really know what it means or what we need to do for I&O to achieve a business-like state?

Firstly, the “run IT as a business” mantra is wrong – well, partially. I&O organizations must indeed adopt practices to run as a business function, but not necessarily as a full business in itself.

One of the most prevalent areas in need of attention is that of the ITIL-espoused discipline of IT financial management. In that business-success not only stems from having a great product (or service) coupled with great customer service, there also needs to be an understanding of the cost of provision, the cost drivers, and the margins involved. Not having this understanding can only expose I&O’s lack of business acumen and capabilities, and make it difficult to compete in the new IT delivery landscape.