Like it or not, consumer electronics are becoming an integral part of the corporate IT infrastructure. This has never been more critical than it is right now in the adoption of “smart phones,” pads, and tablets. In fact, it is really no longer appropriate to think of a phone as a telephony device. Rather, it’s a computer – and in some cases, a pretty darn powerful computer – with voice running as one of the many applications.
Steve recently made the leap from smart phones to add an Android-based tablet, and the experience really drives home the power, the security vulnerability, and the productivity increases made possible by these devices. In a nutshell, the screen and human interface is large enough to be a “real” computing device while maintaining a lot of the mobility of a phone-type device. So here are few semi-random observations, and we’ll surely be following up with more.
Positive: These devices should give a huge boost to unified communications and collaboration (UCC), particularly with video conferencing. We’ll cover this issue in more depth as we have more time to evaluate, but we find two factors to be especially of interest. First, essentially all devices have “front-facing” cameras, making mobile video especially easy to do in the future. (We stress “in the future” because interoperability between devices is not necessarily a given.) That said, we fully expect vendors to port soft versions of their UCC solutions to both Apple and Android devices in the near future.
Negative: Did we mention that these are computers? As such, they will become an integral part of the corporate network, whether intended or not. Consequently, they will increasingly have access to corporate databases and it will be quite difficult (if not impossible) to make sure that the confidential “keys to the kingdom” don’t end up on the same device being used to watch a movie.
Frustrating: The pad/tablet market is rapidly evolving. Many apps have been optimized for a “real” computer, especially assuming a browser. Other apps have been optimized for “smart phones.” However, several important (to us) applications are in limbo. There is a mobile app, and a regular app. However, the difficulty of bridging the gap can be quite frustrating. (The two most common cloud-based apps that we’ve tried (and failed with) so far are the basic edition of SalesForce and GotoMeeting.)
So the future looks both bright and daunting. And there’s one thing for sure. There’s no use in trying to stop the tide. Rather, it’s time to make sure that your corporate network is ready to handle these devices appropriately.
