UC
Perhaps the hottest consumer electronic device this year is the tablet. Thanks to the success of the iPad, tablet choices are mushrooming, led by the Samsung Galaxy (and if reviews are accurate, it represents the best alternative to a market currently dominated by Apple).
And perhaps no device represents the challenge of the consumerization of IT more than the tablet. At the last few conferences I’ve attended, iPad users were seemingly everywhere while the rest of us gazed on jealously typing away at our laptops and watching our batteries die while iPad owners carried on. In most cases, iPads are employee-owned, leading to demands from IT to provide support for applications such as e-mail and calendar sync. Fortunately for those that provide iPhone support, adding the iPad to the list of allowable devices is rather trivial. But as tablet choices widen, IT is faced with the growing challenge of developing policies that govern connectivity for worker-owned devices, covering such areas as security and cost reimbursement.
Tablet policy development is a hot topic among IT leaders. While most just want to provide some basic level of access while minimizing security risks, an increasing number of IT and line of business managers are actively examining the potential of the tablet to replace laptops or support new business processes for field and mobile workers, giving them real-time access to custom applications that take advantage of larger screen real-estate then a smartphone, at lower cost than a laptop. Here we expect to see a growing number of business-focused tablet vendors such as Avaya, Cisco and Research in Motion lead the way.
As enterprise-focused tablet options grow, the potential for conflict expands. Will an iPad owner stop carrying his tablet because his company gave him a Cisco Cius or RIM PlayBook? Or will they come back to IT and argue for iPad-based applications because their personal games, movies, and music mean that they will keep their iPad no matter what, meaning the prospect of carrying around multiple tablets. I expect that for some companies, concerns over security, remote device management, and compliance will necessitate a company owned/provisioned tablet no matter what.
However, I’ve talked to a few iPad owners recently and asked them how they would view a company-provided tablet. The response is almost always, “What would I need with that? Just give me the same apps on my iPad!”
The fact that the consumer tablet is increasingly entrenched among those who make up the market for enterprise tablets is cause for concern for tablet vendors. But it also represents an opportunity for tablet buyers to evaluate the cost benefits of simply delivering applications to the tablet their employees already own, buying employees consumer devices such as iPad or Galaxy, or buying a business-focused tablet. We have already seen numerous examples of organizations choosing to buy mobile employees iPads.
A pro-active planning approach is the key to success for IT and line of business managers. Evaluate the increasing array of business-focused tablets, but weigh their benefits versus costs, security, and ease of management compared to supporting employee-owned devices.
