▁But ▁many ▁technology - based ▁products , ▁such ▁as ▁calcul ators ▁and ▁mobile ▁ph ones , ▁have ▁also ▁had ▁their ▁orig ins ▁in ▁business ▁mark ets , ▁and ▁only ▁over ▁time ▁did ▁they ▁become ▁domin ated ▁by ▁high - volume ▁consumer ▁usage , ▁as ▁these ▁products ▁comm od it ized ▁and ▁prices ▁fell . ▁An ▁example ▁of ▁enter prise ▁software ▁that ▁became ▁consumer ▁software ▁is ▁optical ▁character ▁recognition ▁software , ▁which ▁origin ated ▁with ▁banks ▁and ▁postal ▁systems ▁( to ▁autom ate ▁che que ▁clear ing ▁and ▁mail ▁sorting ) ▁but ▁eventually ▁became ▁personal ▁product ivity ▁software . ▁ ▁In ▁a ▁different ▁sense , ▁consumer ization ▁of ▁IT ▁is ▁the ▁pro l ifer ation ▁of ▁personally ▁owned ▁IT ▁at ▁the ▁work place ▁( in ▁addition ▁to , ▁or ▁even ▁instead ▁of , ▁company - owned ▁IT ), ▁which ▁origin ates ▁in ▁the ▁consumer ▁market , ▁to ▁be ▁used ▁for ▁professional ▁purposes . ▁This ▁bring ▁your ▁own ▁device ▁tr end ▁has ▁significantly ▁changed ▁corpor ate ▁IT ▁policies , ▁as ▁employees ▁now ▁often ▁use ▁their ▁own ▁la pt ops , ▁net books , ▁table ts , ▁and ▁smart ph ones ▁on ▁the ▁hardware ▁side , ▁and ▁social ▁media , ▁web ▁confer encing , ▁cloud ▁storage , ▁and ▁software ▁as ▁a ▁service ▁on ▁the ▁software ▁side . ▁ ▁Orig ins ▁Cons umer ization ▁has ▁existed ▁for ▁many ▁dec ades , ▁as , ▁for ▁example , ▁the ▁consumer ization ▁of ▁re fr iger ation ▁occurred ▁in ▁the ▁ 1 9 1 0 s ▁through ▁ 1 9