Consumers to drive enterprise mobility

whether enterprises like it or not

Enterprises hoping to maintain tight control over future adoption of mobile technologies should open their minds and embrace the notion that consumer devices will continue to filter their way into the workplace, whether they like it or not, according to some wireless market experts.

Presenters at the Mobile Internet World conference in Boston said Thursday said that the "ship has sailed" when it comes to the continued encroachment of mobile systems designed for consumers in the workplace.

As workers get their hands on new mobile tools that offer them greater ability to integrate their jobs and personal lives, said the industry watchers, they will inevitably employ the systems they find most useful in both settings -- regardless of any corporate efforts to slow or block adoption -- said Zeus Kerravala, a Yankee Group analyst who oversees the firm's infrastructure research and consulting business.

Just as enterprise efforts to stop users from bringing consumer messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications into the office have failed, and many firms have capitulated and allowed people to utilize the tools under certain guidelines, companies will have to allow mass-market mobile technologies to come in the door and try to dictate their use with strong policies, Kerravala said.

"A lot of CIOs say it is what it is, and that they will mandate some corporate tools. Others said they won't let people use anything if they don't have control," Kerravala said. "But, because of the influx of consumer technologies and how fast they change, unless IT learns to operate differently, the problem will only get worse and force IT to operate differently."

With companies spending more than 80 percent of their IT budgets on maintenance, with scant funds left over to sink into innovation, workers will use the new consumer technologies they acquire to lend greater mobility to their lives and carry them into work, he said.

According to Yankee's latest research, at least 45 percent of all enterprise workers operate outside of the traditional office setting at least part of the time.

If consumer-driven mobile systems offer workers better performance and more robust applications than the devices endorsed by their employers, there's little doubt that people will utilize their own tools in some capacity, Kerravala and other speakers said.

Even Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices, which remain the most popular enterprise-issued handhelds in North America, initially came into the workplace through their adoption by workers in their personal lives, the experts pointed out.

"Companies want to have control, but BlackBerry devices came in from the outside and IT eventually found a way to manage them," said Lalit Canaran, director of professional services at Sybase, which operates iAnywhere, a mobile and embedded database technology business.

"The technical specifications of the BlackBerry platform made it more palatable, but the real impetus behind adoption was user demand," Canaran said. "In most cases IT doesn't really mind if one group of users, like sales, want to adopt a certain technology. They tend to get more involved when they see demand from multiple user groups, but by that time it's typically too late to stop people from using the systems."

Kerravala added that the future of the larger mobile market is being driven by people's demand to access information in the most practical manner no matter where they are or which device they are forced to use to do so.

Based on recent Yankee research, most enterprise workers already feel entitled to begin using consumer technologies they find helpful in carrying out their jobs -- without asking for the thumb's-up from their IT departments.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the Good Gear Guide newsletter.

Matt Hines

InfoWorld
Show Comments

Most Popular Reviews

Latest Articles

Resources

PCW Evaluation Team

Cate Bacon

Aruba Instant On AP11D

The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.

Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti

Aruba Instant On AP11D

Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.

Tom Pope

Dynabook Portégé X30L-G

Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.

Tom Sellers

MSI P65

This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.

Lolita Wang

MSI GT76

It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.

Featured Content

Product Launch Showcase

Don’t have an account? Sign up here

Don't have an account? Sign up now

Forgot password?