The rise of consumer tech

How is your company handling the rising tide of consumer smartphones, like the iPhone?

I've asked that question of a lot of IT professionals over the past couple of years. Here's one response: "We're fully behind the iPhone at my company. We're replacing BlackBerries where and when we can. The iPhone user experience trumps [our IT] management concerns. We make it happen for the ones who want it." But I've also heard the contrasting view, the one you might sum up as, "We have our users so locked down, we don't worry about the iPhone or its ilk."

IT pros who answer either way underestimate their users or the degree of trouble multiple types of half-secured consumer devices can get them into. You may be handling it now, but how about when your employees dump their desktops for their own iPads or similar devices? How about when the numbers really mount? Have you kept pace with the number of smartphones being released? And many users have two or three of these devices.

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How is your company handling the rising tide of consumer smartphones, like the iPhone?

I've asked that question of a lot of IT professionals over the past couple of years. Here's one response: "We're fully behind the iPhone at my company. We're replacing BlackBerries where and when we can. The iPhone user experience trumps [our IT] management concerns. We make it happen for the ones who want it." But I've also heard the contrasting view, the one you might sum up as, "We have our users so locked down, we don't worry about the iPhone or its ilk."

IT pros who answer either way underestimate their users or the degree of trouble multiple types of half-secured consumer devices can get them into. You may be handling it now, but how about when your employees dump their desktops for their own iPads or similar devices? How about when the numbers really mount? Have you kept pace with the number of smartphones being released? And many users have two or three of these devices.