Over the past few years the growing influence of the generation of ‘digital natives’ has started to impact the way companies use technology. The ‘consumerisation of IT’, as Gartner describes it, is challenging the old established order of centralised development and control.

Whether it’s using instant messaging to communicate with colleagues, suppliers and customers, setting up corporate Wikis to manage internal projects, or trying out advertising concepts on YouTube, the digital natives amongst us are creating a counter-revolution using tools and methods that are often under IT’s radar. It’s not that they’re ever likely to storm the data centre and burn down the servers, but they do have a rebellious tendency to bypass the traditional command and control approach to IT management.

But rather than using baton-wielding IT cops to suppress the insurgency, companies should look to embrace the new ideas and methods born out of Web 2.0.

For example, enhancing productivity through facilitating collaboration has always been a challenging business goal for the IT department. Yet digital natives in their home lives are already part of thriving communities and social networks which are highly efficient channels for sharing and communicating.

Of course it’s not all a one-way street. The proliferation of consumer devices in the workplace and the inherent risk of having unknown assets connecting to the corporate network can create real security breaches. But with the increasing mobilisation of the workforce, the problem of securing moving endpoints needs to be tackled in any case and having a flexible security infrastructure that satisfies both corporate needs and those of gadget junkies will ultimately lead to a better working environment.

So rather than fearing the loss of control which is brought by the consumerisation of IT  we should not be afraid to seek out and  put the best aspects to work for our businesses.