source: Daily Google logo from 9.11.2009

Abstract: In a keynote Google’s former CIO Douglas Merrill describes Google’s approach concerning internal innovation culture as offering employees as much freedom as possible in their working/innovation processes, e.g, by letting them choose any operation system, any location and any software they want to use. This increases the company’s rate of return. Any other way would just stifle their productivity in innovation. This has an effect on Google’s security policies: Google tries to close the upcoming security-gap in its own infrastructure e.g. by securing their servers rather than opting for the traditional solution, which would be to secure each device, which is used by an employee (and thereby restricting the devices, which can be used: software, computer, browser, etc.).

Driver 

Technological

The technological approach by Google was prompted “Cloud Computing”: common business applications online become accessible from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

Economic / Industrial

Innovation cycles are speeding up. This forces companies to think about ways to increase the productivity of their employees.

Google was therefore looking for ways to increase innovative freedom for employees without harming IT-security, assuming that increasing freedom to innovate also increases a company returns.

Obstacle 

Social

Especially according to cloud computing, acceptance is still very low beyond the ICT sector.

Technological

It is not yet clear, if protecting own infrastructure is sufficient to close all security-gaps, e.g. encoding internal communication by allowing the use of blogs, messengers etc.

Indication

Change in current innovation patterns

This could be a weak signal that the traditional conflicts between security issues and an open innovation culture are coming to a head.

Therefore companies are looking for new ways to harmonise the two aspects.

This weak signal could also lead to new security innovations.

Sector specifics / cultural specifics

Relevant to all sectors that work with ICT applications.

Source

Internet

www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23916/

www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/blog/archives/2009/02/survey_fear_slo.html