Monday, March 12, 2012
Article published in CIO Update: Businesses of all shapes and sizes are struggling with the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomena. On one hand, BYOD is a boon. Employees get the devices they like. Often they pay for them out of their own pockets, and productivity goes up. On the other hand, support costs can also go up, bandwidth may become saturated and, if policies aren’t crafted well, employees can end up feeling cheated by their employers. Creating a workable BYOD policy isn’t rocket science, but it is a delicate balancing act. Get it right, and you’ll boost both productivity and employee morale. Get it wrong, and you’ll need to start worrying about both security risks and increasingly disgruntled workers. … Continue reading »
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Monday, February 27, 2012
Originally published at No Jitter. By Robert Lee Harris I spent a lot of last summer working with a large enterprise IT department transition from company-owned Blackberries to employee-owned devices. Here’s what I took away from the experience. This was a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) project much like many companies are now considering. Being involved in the real-life execution of the strategy is, to say the least, a learning experience. This article is titled “Lessons Learned,” but it does not include every lesson learned. That would be too much reading! Instead, I have listed some key points that are likely to apply to most enterprises considering a BYOD plan. 1. Not Everyone Wants to Bring Their Own DeviceIt is probably hard … Continue reading »
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Friday, February 24, 2012
There’s a lot of buzz around BYOD in an increasingly mobile workforce, but little consensus around rules and guidelines to be incorporated in a policy. Whether you’ve just started planning your BYOD policy, or have already implemented one, we’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences. You can learn more about what other companies are doing in their policies by participating in this survey, being conducted by Software Advice. The results will be published in March, so come back to this blog for the results! Click here for the survey.
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Friday, February 17, 2012
Computerworld recently published this article, Chief Mobile Officer: A job title now timely? “…as enterprises scramble these days to establish mobile strategies, having a CMO could be a key to success, according to a new Forrester Research report. Smartphones and tablets are “the manifestation of a much broader shift to new systems of engagement… [with] customers, partners and employees,” Forrester said in the 30-page report. “To remain vital in this business technology reformation, CIOs must step up and work with other executives to establish an office of the chief mobility officer to implement an enterprisewide mobile strategy.” One of the report’s authors, Forrester analyst Ted Schadler, said in an interview that one of purposes of the report is to get … Continue reading »
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Philippe Winthrop wrote an article, and proposed the term COPE (yes, another acronym) to describe another way to manage consumerization of IT: Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled. “The IT department would provide you ANY mobile device you want…that’s because they have embraced the Consumerization of IT. However, as opposed to trying to find a way to secure the corporate data that will reside on the employees’ personal devices, why not instead provide the employees a means to put some personal content on their work devices? The device (and the corporate data that resides on it) is fully managed and controlled, but also allows for employees to install the apps they like for their personal use. We already see this in many organizations … Continue reading »
Tags: byod
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Friday, January 20, 2012
There are two separate issues involved with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that seem to get constantly mixed up: Who pays for the device Choice of device Who pays for the device With the proliferation of smartphones in the general population, many employees who did not previously have a corporate paid device, and who didn’t necessarily require mobile access to do their jobs, are now asking to be able to use their own devices at work. Since these devices belong to the employees, this is truly a BYOD phenomenon. Companies may benefit from increased productivity amongst users who are keen to check email more frequently on their shiny new toys business productivity tools. Employees may also be happier, … Continue reading »
Tags: byod, cost savings
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Here’s an interesting take on carriers managing mobile devices: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/uh-oh-the-carriers-want-manage-your-smartphones-181055?page=0,1 “There’s a whole industry called telecom expense management (TEM) that exists solely because carrier bills cannot be trusted to be accurate. Despite years of claimed work by carriers on their billing systems, the bills remain untrustworthy, and (surprise!) they tend to overcharge. This is a provider you’d want to give more business and trust?” It’s true, as a TEM company, we keep adding on more customers who recognize that they’re paying more to carriers than they need to. “Have you ever called a carrier for support on your device? Or brought one in to a retail store? If so, you know the experience is almost always poor. Would any business … Continue reading »
Tags: cost savings
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Monday, January 9, 2012
Article published in Wireless Business & Technology: 2012 is shaping up to be a challenging year for CIOs as they figure out how to safely embrace the slew of mobile devices entering their networks. Smartphones and tablets are seriously threatening the IT status quo, and CIOs who fail to adapt and get ahead of this technological upheaval risk getting pink slips and seeing themselves replaced by more agile colleagues. Clearly, 2012 is the year that organizations of all shapes and sizes must come to terms with their mobile problem. Here are five serious mobile challenges CIOs will have to deal with in 2012… http://wireless.sys-con.com/node/2118812 _____________ There is so much happening with mobility in the enterprise, and it’s happening so quickly. We … Continue reading »
Tags: byod, cost savings, mobile device management, mobile security
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Thursday, December 1, 2011
RIM announced yesterday that they are getting closer to launching Mobile Fusion, an extension of their Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) software that includes support for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. It’s currently in beta testing, and their target release date is the end of March, 2012. The Mobile Device Management software category has gotten crowded, with dozens of specialized vendors. Recently, IBM and Google also announced MDM offerings. Of course, RIM has the longest history of providing security and management software via their BES software, albeit only for their own Blackberry handsets. RIM originally announced plans to offer support for Apple and Android devices earlier this spring, shortly after acquiring the German MDM firm, ubitexx. Initial demonstrations of the ubitexx/RIM product … Continue reading »
Tags: mdm vendors, mobile device management
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Best Practices for BYOD Policies What is BYOD, and should this concern your company? Ever since consumers (including employees in your company) started coveting the iPhone, there has been an increasing demand from enterprise users to be able to choose their own smartphones, and now tablets, and even desktops and laptops. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, 69% of companies currently do not allow employees to use their own devices, but that number is expected to drop to 37% within 12 to 18 months. On the other hand, a survey from October 2010 showed that “81% of employees admit to using their devices to access their employer’s network without their employer’s knowledge or permission—and 58 % … Continue reading »
Tags: byod
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