Written by: Jake Allard, Technology Consultant
I’ve been in technology for over 20 years now, starting in mobility back when a BlackBerry was considered an emerging technology, and “there’s an app for that” wasn’t a thing.
From there I have supported customers across various technologies including mission-critical solutions in Public Safety, the kind of tech where you don’t get a second chance and early adoption is rarely an option.
Here’s the pattern I’ve seen every time: a new wave of technology arrives, it’s dismissed as a fad, the early years are chaotic, security lags behind and eventually it matures into something so essential we wonder how we ever lived without it.
Here’s a look back on the waves I’ve seen first-hand.
1. The Mobility Wave (mid-2000s)
BlackBerry was the status symbol among executives; it was a paradigm shift in the way they were informed and communicated. Built from the top-down, pioneering encrypted messaging and device security. There were a few “smart devices” that emerged and disappeared just as quickly as the security and user experience just wasn’t there, until the iPhone came along and blew it all up. IT departments dreaded January because every exec would come back from Christmas with a new iPhone or iPad and demand it “just work” with corporate systems. We saw the “consumerization of IT” truly begin.
Security standards were lowered to accommodate these demands, there simply wasn’t a way to meet the current security posture with these new sleek devices. That was the end of the neat, controlled BlackBerry BES world and BYOD was born.
Suddenly, everyone had these powerful devices in their pocket, but the systems and processes to support them outside the office just didn’t exist.
2. The Cloud & Shadow IT Wave (late 2000s – early 2010s)
People found their own way. They emailed themselves documents, uploaded sensitive files to Dropbox or SugarSync. At first IT seemed to ignore it, or were blissfully unaware before scrambling desperately to block it.
But the truth was, cloud worked. It solved real problems, and employees weren’t going to give it up. This was also the era SaaS came roaring in. Subscription-based, easy to adopt, and business units loved it. Procurement was as simple as providing a credit card.
The old “castle and moat” security model? Decimated.
3. The Security & Enablement Phase (2010s)
Eventually IT caught up. Mobile Device Management, endpoint protection, secure enterprise cloud services. Suddenly it was possible to enable the teamand keep data safe.
But solving one problem created another as adoption exploded. Data sprawl went wild. Multi-cloud wasn’t theory anymore, it was reality. File shares kept growing alongside OneDrive and Google Drive. Slack, Teams, Zoom and other collaboration tools completely changed how people worked.
Who had access to what? Who still needed it? Was anything classified properly? If sensitive data leaked, what would it mean? The “Principle of Least Privilege” was all but forgotten in the stampede of data as users stored, shared and collaborated daily.
4. The Zero Trust & Data Protection Shift (mid-2010s onwards)
Nature abhors a vacuum, and security vendors filled the gap. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) flipped the model from “trust but verify” to “never trust, always verify”.
Data discovery and classification tools matured, AI and ML enabling an orginisation to tackle the insurmountable task at hand. It evolved further to start spotting insider threats and ransomware in real-time, and automation became the new weapon. For the first time, organisations had a way to at least attempt to get control of sprawling data while still enabling users.
5. The Pandemic Shift (2020)
Then came 2020. Overnight, millions of people had to work from home.
This was the “stress test” of every revolution that came before it. If your organisation had embraced mobility, cloud, SaaS, collaboration tools, and Zero Trust you could pivot almost seamlessly. Your people were already equipped to work anywhere, securely, with access to the tools they needed.
If you hadn’t? It was chaos. VPN bottlenecks, unsecured devices, mad scrambles for collaboration tools. Some organisations thrived, while others drowned.
Looking back, all those earlier waves weren’t just disruptions. They were preparation for this moment. The ones who invested early reaped the benefits when it mattered most.
6. The AI Explosion (2022 onwards)
AI had been lurking in the background for years, but 2022 changed everything. ChatGPT, MidJourney and other generative AI made it mainstream overnight. Suddenly, AI wasn’t in a science fiction book, it was in everyone’s hands.
And like every revolution before it, organisations faced the same tension: the benefits are undeniable, but the risks are enormous. Data leakage, model training risks, compliance gaps… Yet so are the benefits and employees love it.
If organisations don’t adopt and enable AI securely, users will turn to shadow IT all over again in an effort to keep up with the pace of change as your competition themselves embrace this undeniable game changer.
You can’t stop it; if you have been paying attention, you don’t want to.
What’s Next?
Every wave has followed the same pattern: hype, shadow IT, chaos, adoption, security headaches…. Eventually IT caught up, tools matured and most importantly value was realised.
The question isn’t whether another technology revolution is coming, but what it will be and how quickly organisations will embrace or resist it.
What’s certain is that history will repeat itself. The early adopters will suffer the pain of the “wild west”, but eventually the dust will settle, and the benefits will be undeniable. They will be years ahead of those that lag behind.
More information about Jake
My role at AltTab is to work consultatively with clients to understand these unique challenges, then map the right solutions to help them overcome them. Whether it’s leveraging unbreakable mobile connectivity, embedding redundancy into mission-critical systems, or guiding the responsible adoption of AI, I focus on turning complexity into clarity.
I’m not here to push a product. I’m here to act as a trusted advisor. Listening first, then helping businesses align the right technology with their strategy so they can innovate, stay secure, and move ahead of the competition.
If you’re looking for practical, real-world insight on technology trends, resilience, and security, let’s connect.