BYOD is about the people, not the technology

"If we became authoritarian and libertarian we would not be pleasing anyone. We've gone down the libertarian route. We're trusting employees with 500,000 contracts, if we can't trust them with 500 laptops then..." Evans added.

His vision of the future is to have a workforce so accustomed to the tools and technologies they use there isn't a need for the IT department as we know it.

"We wanted to remove barriers and make RLB a place people can come and work to best of their abilities ... it is a compromise. It offers flexibility to staff, saves money, doesn't discriminate based on location, doesn't discriminate based on technology and gives the business a certain amount of introspection so it can see the appetite for risk," he said.

"We are getting very close to a position where I can say to my CEO that he doesn't need us anymore. This is a fundamental change to our industry. There will be casualties."

Others in the room agreed that the nature of IT and how it is delivered was changing and that it is key professionals keep pace or else risk alienating users further.

Coplin added: "We have to stop talking about BYOD or the consumerisation of IT like it's another tool in IT. It's like putting an extra phone on someone's desk and saying

'You're twice as efficient now.' We need to look at it as a principle/service that allows people to embrace technology in ways they'd not imagined before.

"In order to get to a transformational experience, you need employees that are empowered and they need the tools too. You need to connect these three things ... the power is in unleashing the workforce. Unleashing all their skills, talent and inquisitiveness as to what tech can do..."