Robots, 3-D printers and wearable tech are indeed cool, but they should raise red flags for IT leaders. Here’s how these emerging technologies will cause operations, privacy and user policy headaches for CIOs in 2014.
A number of big changes will start to impact IT in 2014 — but you should likely be thinking about them over the holiday break. Here are three trends I’m watching and what they will mean as we all get ready for the New Year.
Think about the kind of vendor you’ll chose for this, how your robot will be managed and maintained, and making sure the purchase/maintenance process encompasses the years of experience managing tech IT possesses will help assure that the result is as good as it can be.
Second, 3-D printing and scanning, especially for complex parts and products, will have a significant impact on what you build or buy. Advances in metal, ceramic and blended metal/plastic products in 2013 introduced printers that create amazing things. But this also creates risk. As customers scan and recreate the products you sell, divisions scan and print products using copyright-protected designs, and employees use printers for unapproved purposes.
Want to publish your own articles on DistilINFO Publications?
Send us an email, we will get in touch with you.
Remember that IT has useful experience with intellectual property, particularly with preventing people from copying protected IP without proper permissions. IT typically manages printers and photocopiers, setting policies that prevent their use for everything from personal invitations to body parts. Update these policies to include 3-D printers and scanners to assure they’re used properly and don’t become a bigger problem than benefit.
But Google is hardly the only vendor creating potentially risky consumer products. Smartwatches such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear also have built-in, always-available cameras and microphones. Revisit your smartphone policies, given the camera quality on these devices and the fact that they, too, have always-on microphones. You can’t block them, but making stiff penalties for using smartphones in a way that’s harmful to the business, enforcing these policies and communicating the enforcement to prevent bad behavior could go a long way toward protecting your firm.
Date: December 20, 2013