Tweet

We’re Just Trying to Find Our Place in the World

Guest post by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: In the golden era parents would bring their kids to work so they'd get an idea of how hard working really was. Today the kids are "working" but they brought their toys to work...you know iPhones, iPads, iPods. Boss saw the devices he thought they were cool so he (or she) sent out the assistant to buy a couple for him/her (so much neater than the old Blackberry). He told IT they had to support his devices and they said "yes sir." Everyone copies the boss so it went from BYOK (kid) to BYOD (device). Great company doesn't have to buy them just keep them from sucking the lifeblood out of the company's databases...great, just great! Life isn't easy but hey you're having fun with your devices aren't you ???

We’re Just Trying to Find Our Place in the World

"I wouldn't make a hasty decision. Nobody can make a snap decision. We've got to consider the pros and cons, make a list, and get advice." - Frank Stark, Rebel Without a Cause, Warner Bros (1955)

Since the mainframe days, people have complained that IT was slow to respond, slow to deliver, over budget.

Unisys' latest report that IT people are willing to ignore the consumerization of IT only reinforces this old saw.

According to them, IT has its collective heads in the sand.

That's a lot more newsworthy than saying IT has a helluva' job on its hands giving company people on-the-go what they want and need and keeping the company jewels safe, secure!

Sure, it reinforces all of the reasons folks have given for bringing in and using their own notebooks, smartphones, tablets. After all, work/home life had blurred so they might as well use the device(s) they use to take care of business when they're home to take care of home stuff at work.

Jim Stark looked at the new kids and said, "You read too many comic books."

With the new-found tools/power, they got creative developing little work-arounds so they could go into the information rich company databases and gather the information, find the answers that their customers and their bosses wanted/needed.

Of course, then you just have to flaunt your newly found power by making dazzling presentations for the boss on your tablet (iPad).

As for the bosses, what kind of leader will they be if they don't have the latest, best?

Right?

The problem is how do you manage, implement and protect something that is changing right before your eyes.

Consumerization - Firms large and small have come to an uneasy truce with employees who want to use their own devices for business and home. Whether the company provides the device - notebook, smartphone, tablet - or reimburses the employee, the IT challenge goes beyond just "hookin' 'em up," it adds a whole new dimension to security. Source - IDC

No Enterprise Support

Even though Jobs and his team tell everyone they didn't care about the enterprise, they are offering companies great volume buys. It's a good thing they're making the very best products for the consumer who is...employed somewhere.

You sly dawg you...

It's probably why Apple's marketshare finally inched back up to 10 percent in the U.S. (still hovering around 5 percent in ROW).

We didn't think much about it because we use our two devices - notebook and smartphone - for day-in, day-out business all the time. However, some of our folks are real power users so naturally they have a notebook, smartphone (iPhone), tablet (iPad).

That's what happens when you hire folks who don't know what a typewriter or fax is.

But at the recent Mobile Computing Summit, it was pretty obvious these folks knew what the rebels wanted as well as the jobs they had been hired to do...protect, serve.

Pick Your Priorities - Reduced staffs, expanded priority lists and a rainbow of operating systems/devices has placed a heavy workload on IT teams--not just to deliver apps and applets, but to also ensure the enterprise's IP (intellectual property) is safe and secure. Source - IDC

It's really true...mobility is the new computing platform.

The way business is today, the idea of a work/personal device has a lot of merit.

Judy looked at her iPhone (she had named it) and said, "I love you, Jim. I really mean it"

The challenge is we don't really trust either of the leading mobile OS (iOS, Android) stores.

Off the Rack

Somehow, buying a business-class app off the same rack you bought/downloaded Angry Birds, the rest of your games and music just doesn't seem right.

BYOD limits the visibility IT has into the mobile environment when users install their apps because "hey it's my device."

Sure, Apple and Google check each app that's submitted to their stores, but how well do you really check 1,000s of apps a day? What are you really checking for...salability?

More importantly if the business app is available off-the-shelf to anyone with a PayPal account how private, secure is office data on your device?

Of course there's nothing wrong with buying/loading/using casual things on the device (it's yours after all):

- Social site links

- Entertainment

- Utilities

- Games

- Lifestyle stuff

Platform Targets - Apple's devices are at the top of their lists for a lot of employees. They're also the design platform of choice for company app developers. But within every company, every department, the list of "gotta' have" is always slightly different. Source - Applecator, IDC

But business apps need to come from the company store - either a major third-party supplier (Oracle, SAP, SalesForce) or better yet, from people who understand what you want/what you need. You know, apps like:

- Productivity

- Document management

- Sales force automation

- Business messaging, communications

- Finance, operations, customer support

Jim Stark stared at the list and announced, "You can wake up now, the universe has ended."

Rules Changed

Face it, the rules of the business/IT game have changed.

IF consumerizing your enterprise IT activities wasn't bad enough, you have to take into consideration your people may have an Android phone, iPad, Windows notebook.

Sure, Apple is starting to offer an OS that runs across all platforms and Microsoft demonstrated the capability with Win 8, but Google?

Really?

Get serious!

Get to Work Team

No wonder people are starting to talk about IT people becoming app developers.

Want It All - Ask the company's management to list their business/IT priorities and everything rises to the top. The problem is budget realities settle in and they choose those with the fastest payback. That's usually mobile device and collaborative apps. The rest are on the "quick" list. Source - Yankee Group

Buzz Gunderson looked over at them and commented, "You know something? I like you. You gotta do something."

But it ain't that simple.

We can see the importance of developing apps/mini-apps that help individuals and departments dig into, use and share a specific set of data from the company's deep, rich treasure trove of information; but it's a whole new set of skills.

The support resources, the infrastructure for a mobile environment is pretty different from what you previously had "in house."

IT/app development teams have to:

- Support multiple mobile OSes, multiple carrier implementations

- Integrate mobile device management with current PC/server tools

- Protect data in-the-air that is being sent between the mobile device/server

- Ensure that since you're dealing with a set of standardized, rich, native APIs (application programming interface) develop strong anti-malware solutions and constantly test them

- Understand that users can and will install apps IT will need to support

Lots of Responsibility

IT has a lot less control and a whole lot more responsibility in the consumerized

world:

- Devices, platforms, apps are usually dictated by the boss or department head(s)

- BYOD limits IT's visibility into the mobile environment

- Deployment/enhancement control is with the SW/HW provider, carrier - OS upgrades, patches

- Multiple platforms mean multiple app development projects

- Users have high expectations that everything in "their company's system" will be as flexible, easy-to-use as Steve said it would be

- Users can - and will - bypass IT's mobile security controls using cloud, sync services and attach other stuff to the company's infrastructure

Jim Stark looked at the changes and lamented, "I don't know what to do anymore. Except maybe die."

Good, bad and mediocre apps are being thrown onto the market at a record pace and security is...questionable.

Enterprise Adoption - With the ability to handle calls, email and focused applications, smartphones are sweeping across almost every company. Tablets are gaining considerable attention, first in the marketing department and then spreading more slowly with others. Source - IDC

Smartphones are rather narrow devices, but there are more than 100M in use and about 50M tablets.

Attacks in/through a corporate device can be devastating...ask BofA, Citi, FBI, CIA, DOD.

It's pretty easy...just ask the people who used to work at Murdock's News of the World.

Jim Stark stepped back and said, "I don't want any trouble."

IT's Moving Target - Today's IT department is in a constant state of flux as it works to guide/deliver/control business apps being used inside the company to ensure everyone has the information he/she needs when/where it is needed. At the same time, they struggle to protect enterprise data from attack as well as archive files government officials may determine - the company needs to provide - at some point and time. Source - IDC

Consumerized mobile computing is developing at a breathtaking pace and it is pretty hard to have rigid, formal rules/guidelines for something evolving that rapidly.

Management and users certainly aren't going to sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to determine how/where they can use their devices for the company's good.

Of course there are also legal requirements that are being 'invented." You know monitoring, archiving, e-discovery. Then too there's that "little" fact that it's the users' device(s) so who is responsible when their personal data is intermixed with corporate information?

Who's responsible if their stuff is lost in the course of company business?

The first job for IT folks is to mobilize, support the workforce as economically as possible.

Ensure that the entire ecosystem is as safe, secure as possible.

The rest? The race is on!

As Jim Stark pleaded, "You're tearing me apart!"

Related Articles
  A Leader who Understands His Responsibility to Lead
  Article #10 Can't Take Living Paycheck To Paycheck Anymore?
  David Ogilvy's greatest tip for thought leaders
  10 Ideas To Help You Create A Vision Of Your Ideal Work life
  How Do You Feel?
  A Case For Loving Your Job
  The Only Object of Life
  Why Saying Well Done Works
  Italy vs Holland
  Putting the marketing basics in place Part 2
  The internet is like New York City. Only better.
  Writing Your Own Obituary
  Reality Check
  Where You Start Is Not Important
  Your Online World and You
  Seven Keys to Leading a Successful Volunteer Venture
  Be the Change You Need to Be to Increase Sales
  Where To Find The Right Work At Home Opportunities?
  It's All About Value
  The Secret Summit of Million Dollar Marketers

Article Tags: boss, br, budget, collective heads, comic books, company databases, hasty decision, helluva job, jewels, mainframe days, notebook, notebooks, old saw, pros and cons, rebel without a cause, snap decision, uneasy truce, unisys, warner bros



Related Forum Posts
Name for website - Hmmmm Authors World Authors Network Authors World Wide Weblog World Wide Authors Arboretum (or some other alliterative word) WritertoWriter Writer to Reader WritersWorld WritersConnect AuthorsandtheirReadersBlog
Re: Exotic Tea Shop Website for Review - Hi David, - Background is nice and fitting, but I don't like the header. The title completely blends in with the background? - About Us shouldn't be second from the left on the navigation bar. People read from left to right. The commercial intent is to buy, the online store should probably be second. - Online Tea Store... too many choices without supplementary information. No description of product choice. oz and pricing should be stylized separately from the name of the product. - Online Tea Store.... Visuals is definitely very important in raising commercial intent. Someone who comes to the site through SEO is searching for exotic teas and not particulars. Meaning they're browsing. Text is not enough for a browsing shopper. - World of Tea... the information can be organized a bit better. Again, visuals. Some of this info belongs to online tea store. I'm not too sure on the name. - Tea & Treasure... not sure on this name either... mainly because you have "World of Tea" next to it. Navigation should be transparent in conveying information to the users. Why not call it "Find Us" or "Visit Us"? - Email newseletter.... "occasional updates" containing what exactly? Again, my humble opinion. Hope you find it useful!
Re: MyDogSpace - For Dog Lovers - thats really great tanny , I am a dog lover and i can't live With out them , And i think you create Place for people like us those love them dogs
Re: How Not To Start A New Business - Well, these guys these guys will not succeed at all. they need to have a way of doing things. First thing first, which market segment are they targeting? Or are they in the same segment the previous magazine was. They also need to understand the trends, currently people read online magazines so they need a website. After that they need to develop the marketing mix, which will guide them in their marketing activities. This marketing mix will be made of 4 Ps, which are Product, Place,Price and Promotion. I will assume the magazine is the product, the first P, The Price is what is the role the price will play in the market, do they want premium price, or do they want to skim the market. The other P, they need to have, is the Place, this will help in having a strategy on where to place their magazines, this includes the websites, malls, newspaper stands etc. The final P they need to develop is the Promotion, this is the advertising , channels, websites, forums, blogs, name it. Once they have done that, they can sit down and wait for money to come but not without superior customer service, otherwise without all this, they are wasting their time and money.
And This is Handy Too! - [quote:31wl64vf]Develop Fingerprints! Place a small wad of cotton, saturated with tincture of iodine, in a glass tube; blow against suspected fingerprints, and they will appear. [/quote:31wl64vf] Must be of use to all you entrepreneurs out there!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Tips for the Novice Traveler

Stay Employed In A Down Economy

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.