Attending Interop in New York reminded me that IT is many things to many people. To the vast majority of attendees, it’s about getting help to daily problems like how  to provide security and data access in the ever-changing  worlds of cloud and virtualization.

For them, networking guru, Jim Meltzer, a founder of Ashton Meltzer & Associates, offered a wealth of information about integrating and managing end-user services over LANs, WANs and virtual networks — and how to optimize those networks.

Elsewhere, Paul DeBeasi of Gartner, along with Craig Mathais of Farpoint  Group, listed the top 10 key issues in wireless and mobile — think proliferation and standardization — and how to manage the mess.

But I found the perspective of Bitcurrent’s Alistair Croll, the most refreshing — and arguably, the most important for enterprise CIOs. With the title, The Democratization of IT, Croll’s presentation on October 20 took the 50,000-foot view, outlining nothing less than the reasons that IT as we know it will continue to become unrecognizable to old-generation IT execs.

It’s not that we haven’t heard this type of prediction before, but Croll’s view of the consumerization of IT offered some new insights. Specifically:

• IT no longer has a monopoly on providing technology — adoption and application development are emerging from the grassroots of the organization.

• IT is no longer a proprietary operation; managed services are competing with your  IT department to offer services to your business; and — sadly, for some IT execs — your CEO would rather use those providers because they are in the IT business while your core competencies lie elsewhere.

• Line-of-business users can build their own aps cheaper and faster than IT can; get over it and find a way to make it work. “The back door is wide open,” according to Croll.

• There is more information, and more sharing of information, now than ever before. We are in a generation of instant knowledge and public disclosure.

• Users  are becoming better at IT than you are; especially if you are tied to traditional ways.

In a nutshell, Croll believes that with social media and ubiquitous computing, the “genie is out of the bottle." So what does he suggest that IT do to demonstrate its value? "Stop looking for a cork; start deciding what to wish for."

More precisely, he says, IT could be looking to find the next killer app for salespeople where they can track their leads via feeds, calendars and social media; then offer it as an app. His general advice Is to focus less on how to regulate, govern and secure. That “misses the point.”

Instead, fund different models and follow the consumer’s lead, he says. Companies that recognize that a slow-moving IT department won’t drive the business will thrive; others won’t.

Sober advice — or nice conference soundbites without real teeth?

Let me know what you think...