Steve Boese on the standardized environments that IT groups create:
It is pretty easy for the IT folks to calculate how PC support costs are kept 'in-line' by enforcing a strict set of standards. It is also fairly simple to determine the costs to the company if a malicious computer virus infected the network and rendered all the computers inoperable for a period of time.
Since these costs are so easy to calculate and the benefits of a more open environment are subjective and difficult to quantify, it's rare to find an IT department that is open to new innovations. If you don't believe me, just try asking for an iPhone in your corporation. Unless you're in a (very) small company or a start-up, I'll wager that Blackberry is the standard and your request will be laughed at.
Boese continues:
In today's downsized, pressure-packed, do more with less world, we are asking our employees to be more productive and innovative, but in many cases not equipping them with the freedom to use all the tools in the workbench. Rolling out 'company-issue' PC after PC and clamping down on worker's online resources might have made sense 10 years ago, but that time is long gone.
IT's role (and compensation) needs to be considered more holistically so that it can actually enable innovation. Unfortunately, it's too often viewed as a cost center, a necessary evil that exists to prevent viruses and provide five 9's of server uptime.