Consumerization of IT was one of the big topic of 2012 – the empowerment of the consumers in IT. People have grown accustom to needing "an app for that" and then easily downloading it at will on thier smart phones with no lengthy or complex installation processes. With this comes the expectation that they should have the same experience in the workplace…
Dave Harding, Product Manager at 1E, talks about this type of consumerization of IT as well as the new expectations of the workforce over on the blogs at TechNet UK entitled "Power to the people – AppStores for the enterprise". Here's a short excerpt from the article:

The consumerisation of IT has undoubtedly been one of the industry’s favourite topics in 2012. While the majority of organisations will associate the term with the explosion of the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) phenomenon (and the associated task of tirelessly managing personal devices on the network), consumerisation has the potential to mean so much more to the enterprise. It’s not just about organisations managing the use of employee smartphones and tablets in the workplace, but more importantly about adapting to the change in user and administrator expectations about how IT should be accessed and used in a work environment.

As organisations continue to receive requests for more ‘self-service’ orientated working environments – where employees can request the applications and services they need, when they need them – it’s clear users expect a greater level of control. After all, why shouldn’t they be able to manage the business applications on their desktop in exactly the same way as the apps on their smartphone? A self-service portal that provides a unified ‘AppStore’, supporting both user- and machine-centric distribution, seeks to solve this dilemma giving organisations a level of business continuity as well as the flexibility to evolve as their business requirements change.

Read the full article where he expands on this self-service approach and how organizations can also manage other processes such as Active Directory group membership or distribution of App-V or citrix-delivered software over on TechNet UK blogs.