Three most important factors in enterprise IT: control, control, control
Summary
Rupert Goodwins argues that the single biggest issue in modern enterprise IT is loss of control. He traces three converging pressures: political risk from dependence on US cloud and software providers (illustrated by the ICC moving off Microsoft), pervasive and persistent AI features that intrude on devices and services, and big tech’s growing reliance on opaque AI-driven decisions that reduce customer recourse.
These forces leave organisations feeling helpless about their data, operations and continuity. Goodwins proposes open source as the practical exit route: it restores choice, transparency and sovereignty, and provides structural defences against vendor-driven AI overload and politically motivated service cutoffs.
Key Points
- Control has been eroded since the PC era: systems have drifted back toward centralised, vendor-dominated models.
- Political risk is real: reliance on US vendors/cloud can expose organisations to sanctions, lockouts or geopolitical pressure.
- AI is being pushed into products in ways users and organisations can’t fully switch off or audit, reducing operational control.
- Big tech’s habit of delegating decisions to AI (with limited human oversight) makes remediation and accountability difficult.
- Organisational impacts include data-sovereignty concerns, weakened institutional memory (through AI-driven redundancies), and increased security exposure.
- Open source offers a credible route to regain control: transparency, portability and community-driven governance reduce single-vendor lock-in and AI overload risk.
Content summary
Goodwins opens by recalling the promise of the PC: more control for the person or organisation that needed it. He then describes recent events that underline the problem—notably the ICC’s shift away from Microsoft after account lockouts—and explains how that incident signals a wider vulnerability for non-US organisations.
He then turns to AI: intrusive features that can’t be reliably turned off, AI content-moderation and staffing changes at major platforms like YouTube, and the danger of ceding decision-making to systems that neither users nor vendors fully control. The piece closes by championing open source as the practical way to reclaim control, arguing it is less exposed to the investor-driven, growth-at-all-costs incentives that warp big vendors’ behaviour.
Context and relevance
This piece is important for IT leaders, security teams and policy-makers wrestling with vendor lock-in, data sovereignty and AI governance. It ties together current trends: geopolitical risk to cloud reliance, the operational consequences of AI-driven automation, and the renewed strategic appeal of open source as an escape hatch.
If your organisation cares about continuity, compliance or the ability to audit and change the software stack, the arguments here map directly to procurement, architecture and risk-management choices you’re making now.
Why should I read this?
Short and sharp: if you’re tired of feeling like your data and services are at someone else’s mercy, this explains why that’s happening and why open source is worth looking at. It’s a quick, no-nonsense rallying cry about regaining control of your IT.
Author’s take
Punchy opinion: Goodwins lays down a clear line—control is the axis around which enterprise IT should turn. The piece isn’t a technical blueprint, but it’s a strong strategic nudge: reassess dependencies, ask tough questions about AI in your stack, and consider open-source options before the next supplier hiccup becomes an organisational crisis.