"Most major brick-and-mortar retailers... have consumer-facing apps. Several of these apps... have the ability to use the camera in the iPhone to scan a barcode on a physical product and pull additional information about the product, including detailed technical specs and product reviews. Now take a moment to imagine that you work on the sales floor of a retail store. How would you feel if a customer came up to you to ask a question but already had more detailed information about the product on his or her own mobile phone than you have access to on the rugged handheld scanner provided to employees by the store?"

The answer to that question likes in this comment from Allen Benson, vice president of business technology at Spectrum Brands: "The iPad may have started in the consumer's hands, but it will finish as the business device of choice for some time to come..."

For finance executives trying to grasp the magnitude of this evolution, I point to the advice my friend and former supervisor Network World Editor-in-Chief John Dix offers Clevenger's readers: "While there are risks involved, there is little question this consumerization of IT will slow down anytime soon, and smart companies realize it is better to try to channel the tide than fight it."