Lessons from Google

Bangalore: It seems Google has quite a few things to teach IT professionals as far as empowering users are concerned. Giving the users due space and options over their products could well prove to be a boon to an organization, reports Jon Yeomans of ZDNet.

The CIO of Google, Ben Fried, at the recent Interop conference in New York, expressed his views where he felt that IT companies can learn a thing or two from Google and provide the consumers ample choice over hardware and systems.

Fried said, “The social contract between IT and users needs to change. IT's job is to empower users with the tools they need to do their job well.”

Addressing the gathering as the keynote speaker, Ben also advocated the empowerment of users with varied options as it can lead to a "virtuous cycle," leading to the reduction of costs for the company as people will automatically rely less on technical support.

He also stated that giving employees office equipments that can match the consumer devices at home can boost their s morale as it simply shows that the employer cares. "When someone brings home that corporate laptop and sets it down next to their personal computer, I want them to use the corporate laptop. I want it to be something that inspires people to work," Fried said.

Now these are the observations from a person who is in charge of the IT sector of one of the most happening companies of all time. On top of that, the fact that Google’s IT costs are well below industry average and is inversely proportional to the surge in the employee’s number the company witnessed over the last decade is pretty commendable.

Ending on a light note, he revealed that the company’s IT strategists have been getting love letters from the staff acknowledging the effort being put in keeping in mind the employee’s convenience.

Now that is a something to think about,huh?!?