Now, who's the President?!

You thought you got it all worked out. Used the Web 2.0 like no one else to mobilise a huge crowd of supporters. Announced to appoint a national CTO, in charge of using technology pro-actively to create new jobs and restore competiveness. Created an online dialogue with your citizens, even before your term began. Yes, you were going to be a geek in the best sense of the word, leveraging information technology to reach new innovative heights.

Then the IT guys at the White House told you that you can no longer keep your Blackberry. To start with. Unsafe, unreliable, uncontrollable. And besides, it is not a company standard.

What’s next? Probably handing in your MacBook.

Ah, some of these IT security experts (or should we call them the Innovation Prevention Unit?), they can put a damper on any new initiative. Their remedy against the dangers of the connected Internet: just pull the plug and don’t email ever again. Life is so simple, if you really want it.

Obama will soon face the same challenge that many frustrated business users already know all too well: to see your inspiring, new ideas being smashed to smithereens by the central IT department. Because these ideas don’t fit the organisational security policies and procurement rules or because the existing systems are too petrified to accommodate the change.

But unlike many of us, Obama is in the unique position to change this game. There is just one question he needs to ask. Let’s hope he does (and yes, he can).

Eerst gepubliceerd op Capgemini's CTO blog