It is the allure of smartphones as status symbols, “objects of desire” as Gartner Inc. research vice president Monica Basso calls them, that is pushing them from the business world into the consumer world, and vice versa.
As the wireless industry hits its stride—connections are everywhere, and Gartner research shows IT leaders are less and less concerned about security each year—the consumer and business worlds are on a collision course.
Many employees, enamored of their new, tricked-out personal phones, want them synced up with their work networks. And more will be asking for that privilege.
The first reaction, of course, is to say “No.”Why compromise security and take on a series of network headaches so the hipper component of the company workforce can look cool?
That’s a fair question, Gartner analyst and vice president Nick Jones says. But with well-enforced policies and employee education, CIOs should be encouraged by the blurring of the line between work device/play device, Jones says.
“Don’t say no as a gut reaction,” Jones said at Gartner’s 2008Wireless &Mobile Summit. “I don’t think we can or should always resist demand from employees who may want some corporate applications on employee-owned devices.”
Take the BlackBerry. Research In Motion (RIM) President and co-CIO Mike Lazaridis says his company, which manufactures the popular smartphone, still sees business as the sweet spot. But the BlackBerry is no secret outside of work, and more and more people are buying the phone for personal use.
WindowsMobile devices and other smartphones are also starting to gain traction.
“They’re literally walking into the stores and asking for a BlackBerry,” Lazaridis says. Recently, RIM integrated social networking service Facebook into its phones. “They bought [a consumer device] and they want to use this device to connect to corporate email and corporate data,” Basso says. “Theoretically, an enterprise should completely ban the use of iPhone. The reality is, if you do this, what happens is the iPhone users will find other ways to access their email.”
In March, Apple announced that the iPhone will now work with Microsoft ActiveSync, part of a strategy to bring enterprise customers to what was previously a consumer-only device. Apple also launched its iPhone software development kit, allowing the creation of third-party applications for the phone.
Analysts Jones and Basso recommend CIOs familiarise themselves with the most popular consumer products—both wireless and Web-based, such as Facebook and MySpace—and develop a series of policies for their use in the workplace.
Manufacturers of consumer-cum-business products are constantly pushing them toward employees, and sooner or later the IT department has to deal with them, says Steve Vandermolen, IT director at Gordon Food Service.
“We look at ways to embrace [them],” Vandermolen says. Gordon Food Service is comfortable with employees using personal Black- Berrys, provided they adhere to company use policies.
Vandermolen says caution and oversight are key when IT begins sanctioning user-owned smartphones and other wireless products.
And companies shouldn’t allow their use if there is no real business value, he says.
“Some of them are fads and they don’t last long,” he says.
Jones and Basso say staying open minded isn’t only a must, but it can also benefit the business. Business innovation, so often directed from above, might spring up in the lower ranks by employees finding easier ways to complete tasks using consumer products, Jones says.
There is some evidence that CIOs are willing to loosen the reins. A late
2006 Gartner survey of 150 IT directors in Australia found that 72%
expected personal smartphones and digital assistants to be sanctioned in the workplace by 2010.
And about half of 97 U.S. CIOs surveyed by Gartner late last year say they were satisfied with the ability of consumer-oriented products and applications to contribute to business success (although another survey found that about 90%of CIOs want to ban Facebook).
Besides security precautions CIOs should begin developing policies for personal-device use and build and enforce a list of unauthorised devices, Basso says.
Conversely, she suggests building a list of approved devices and encouraging employees to purchase them. Educating employees about secure use of personal wireless toys is also a must, she says.