CTIA: IT and wireless remain apart

In the halls of the Moscone Convention Center during the CTIA conference, it's easy to imagine that all businesspeople are always connected over fast networks using attractive and powerful devices. So why are only 6% of businesses surveyed by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., working on plans to roll out phones and other wireless devices by 2008?

A panel of wireless industry executives and IT decision-makers put that question to the test during a panel discussion at the conference last week on the current state of wireless mobility within large companies. Among the answers? The lack of a coherent IT strategy, concerns about security, and a poor understanding of the benefits of wireless technology.

Like the early days of the PC industry, workers are "sneaking" personal wireless devices into corporations and using them for work purposes, said Said Mohammadioun, CTO of Intellisync. IT managers "need to wrest control of this and make it an enterprise project. The role of [an IT manager] is not to convince people to use a technology; it's to control it, plan it and make sure the corporate assets are not compromised," he said.

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In the halls of the Moscone Convention Center during the CTIA conference, it's easy to imagine that all businesspeople are always connected over fast networks using attractive and powerful devices. So why are only 6% of businesses surveyed by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., working on plans to roll out phones and other wireless devices by 2008?

A panel of wireless industry executives and IT decision-makers put that question to the test during a panel discussion at the conference last week on the current state of wireless mobility within large companies. Among the answers? The lack of a coherent IT strategy, concerns about security, and a poor understanding of the benefits of wireless technology.

Like the early days of the PC industry, workers are "sneaking" personal wireless devices into corporations and using them for work purposes, said Said Mohammadioun, CTO of Intellisync. IT managers "need to wrest control of this and make it an enterprise project. The role of [an IT manager] is not to convince people to use a technology; it's to control it, plan it and make sure the corporate assets are not compromised," he said.

Standard approach sought

However, many businesses lack a standard way of dealing with mobile devices, said Reed Hundt, an adviser to McKinsey & Co. McKinsey's recent study also showed that around 50% to 70% of U.S. businesses simply reimburse employees for costs incurred using their personal communications devices rather than rolling out that service themselves, Hundt said.

CIOs or other high-ranking IT officials can get bogged down when trying to emphasize the benefits of wireless connectivity as opposed to wired connectivity, said Scott Teissler, CIO and CTO at Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta. The decision really shouldn't be about the devices or the network, but the application, he said.

"Once you establish an application is key to the company, whether that application needs to be wireless or wired is not much of a decision," Teissler said. The CIO can then focus on selling the competitive advantages of having that key application extended to new areas, rather than trying to sell a chief financial officer on the productivity benefits of flashy devices, he said.

Security concerns are often cited in opposition to wireless strategies, but those concerns are largely overblown at this point. "It's very easy to argue that wireless security is easier than wireline security in your companies," Intellisync's Mohammadioun said.

For some companies, recognizing that their customers need products for wireless devices makes it easier to bring those capabilities inside the IT department, said Joe Ferra, chief wireless officer at Fidelity Investments. As early as 1998, Fidelity began working on applications for letting customers buy and sell mutual funds with mobile devices, he said. This gave the Boston company insight into how best to roll out wireless devices and in-house applications to its own employees.

Several panelists cited Research In Motion's BlackBerry device as one of the few products being deployed in any kind of volume that offers corporate workers ubiquitous access to e-mail, applications and voice. But the specific device or network does not matter nearly as much as making the wireless experience easy to use and easy to manage, Mohammadioun said.