In obituaries for Steve Jobs, much has been written about his product track record and his transformative impact on the entertainment and telecom industries. But to me there is another legacy: how Apple under Jobs redefined competition in technology around user-centricity and ease of use. This has had profound implications not just in the consumer technology market, but for corporate IT departments and IT staff as well.

User-centricity hasn’t always been at the forefront. Indeed, easy to use computers were once a contrarian thing. Apple introduced the Macintosh as “the computer for the rest of us.” For a long time, technical problems were so significant that it was sufficient to just compete on technical specs. Yet by 2007, Apple dropped “computer” from its name, to signal its shift toward consumer electronics and entertainment. Technical specs mattered less than what you did with the technology. By 2010, Apple surpassed Microsoft as the most valuable technology company. And at times since this past August, it has been the most valuable of all companies.

Apple transformed the technology landscape by redefining expectations about user friendliness, in ways that are very consequential for corporate IT departments. Users have become accustomed to gadgets that are self-evidently easy to use, and intuitive software interfaces. Training and manuals are old school. Having experienced a Mac or an iPhone, users expect the same from other devices and applications. They should be intuitive enough to just pick up and use. They also expect always-on connectivity, whenever, wherever.

Combining technical brilliance with ease of use isn’t easy, to be sure. But to be successful, corporate IT departments will have to cope with these heightened user expectations. There are two ways to do this and most organizations will end up adopting elements of both approaches. The first is to take advantage of the progress Apple and other have made, letting employees make greater use of devices and applications they obtain for themselves. As corporate IT’s perimeter shrinks, we can refocus on more important matters such as integration and risk management.

Second, within the remaining perimeter, corporate IT departments need to up their game on user experience and interface design. In the past, these considerations got short shrift unless the interface was going to be used by external parties. Yet, user experience and interface design are essential to fully realize the potential of information and analytics—areas where our own surveys show IT departments get abysmally low reviews from their end-users.

We think that user experience skills will become very important for corporate IT in the next few years. Similarly, we expect more IT organizations to develop anthropological skills within many of their business-facing roles. Whenever I’ve said this in front of a group of CIOs recently, I’ve elicited quite a few chuckles. (Often, from iPad-sporting CIOs.). But I do think that the era of user-centricity in Corporate IT is here to stay. Add that to the long list of things we have to thank Steve Jobs for.