CIO's Moving Too Slowly with Smartphones and Tablets - Levi Shapiro - MediaBizBloggers

John Chen loves his iPhone. Like many of his colleagues at Sybase (www.sybase.com), he hates carrying a separate, "secure" handset. Corporate IT departments large and small now find themselves with a new challenge- balancing enterprise security with the Smartphones, tablets and other gadgets that are an inseparable part of our lives. This has particular urgency for CIO's (Chief Information Officers) at companies like Sybase, where John Chen is also the CEO. The CIO's Forum, organized last week by VC firm Gemini Israel (www.gemini.co.il) asked CIO's from seven prominent American companies about enterprise mobility. Their insights suggest that CIO's are not moving quick enough in the following areas:

1. Supporting a broader variety of IP-connected devices

2. Transitioning from desktop to a mobile-centric model

3. Integrating external productivity applications

I. Support a broader variety of IP-connected devices: At a minimum, companies should embrace "bring your own device" policies, similar to Kraft Foods, Sybase and Texas Instruments. In this model, the enterprise pays monthly data charges for personal Smartphones but ensures password protection and remote erase. At Sybase, nearly half of the employees now have personal Smartphones running their work-related applications, 30 percent higher than last year.

Brian Bonner, the CIO at Texas Instruments, appreciates the productivity gain from this approach. "Everyone who has a smart device also has a PC, so you could say this increases cost. What is true is that it adds to our productivity and that the cost to a corporate IT department for maintaining a smart phone is minimal, due to the thin client nature of these products".

Despite the benefits, only a handful of Fortune 100 companies have similar processes in place. While the others dawdle, Nielsen Mobile forecasts that Smartphones will be the majority of new handsets sold in the US next year. Moreover, tablet usage in the enterprise is booming. iSuppli predicts 40 million US iPads sold in 2012. Even Research in Motion, which dominates the US enterprise handset market, will release its first tablet next month, the "Black Pad".

Many corporate IT departments are choosing to ignore this transition. One CIO who was invited to participate in the discussion commented, "This is not a priority for us. (We have) no plans to deal with this in the next year".

While some would say CIO's are moving too slowly, Francesco Bombassei, CIO Europe at Boeing, disagrees. "It is Apple or Googlethat have not yet found the time to add enough business features to their inherently consumer platforms. I'm anxious to see iOS and especially Android mature to the point where they replace the Windows platform on all but the most specialized tasks. After all, if iOS or Android could demonstrate to be secure and remote administrable, we would love to transition to those platforms. Unfortunately, I think they are not yet ready for very large, security-oriented companies like Boeing".

II. Transition from desktop to a mobile-centric model: The desktop era is winding down. Ring Central reports that a third of employees are using Smartphones for business even more than they use the desktop. In this context, the 'consumerization' of IT is likely to add devices, not reduce them. The challenge for CIO's is therefore how to enable this trend. Marty Chuck, former CIO of Agilent Technologies and Electronic Arts, says "the new workforce expects these tools. This is a challenge for CIOs who want global, consolidated, standard and secure solutions". He cites the CIO of a local $2.5B medical systems company that integrates iPhones and iPads, but not Android. "Granted, they are not a financial services or digital goods company but this has been done before. ...shouldn't all CIO's do this?"

Organizations using cloud-based, Google applications for the enterprise seem to be most enthusiastic about ditching the desktop.New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where Steve Peltzman is CIO, is getting ready to deploy Google apps for the enterprise. Although the iPad offers limited (and non-expandable) storage, it can access the immense storage capacity of the cloud. "The cloud makes it easier to manage mobility for the enterprise, and will even allow us to provide more staff with remote access via their personal devices. For a small business, that is a big savings and productivity gain. This is a nice long-term solution for us".

Francesco Bombassei at Boeing attributes the cost savings to the cloud, rather than the transition to mobiles. "Smartphone devices are more predictable than the PC and can reduce the cost of monthly support. You save money by moving stuff to the cloud".

III. Integrate external productivity applications

Eventually, large enterprises will need to integrate the growing ecosystem of productivity applications in the cloud. Currently, consumer app stores function on the client-server model, which are a security risk for enterprises. Marty Chuck recognizes these challenges but emphasizes the benefits. "From a user perspective, I would love the notion of an enterprise application store. This implies variety, flexibility and different apps for different needs".

Currently, just 600 of the 11,000 iPad-only applications are for business. One of these is the free application from Citrix Systems, downloaded more than 150,000 times. Citrix enables employees to access internal corporate programs from their iPad. Brian Bonner at Texas Instruments (TI) is "experimenting with the Citrix application for a virtual desktop within a secure server environment. We have a limited number of people using this within the firewall as we try to debug and identify pitfalls".

Other applications, such as LinkedIn, SalesForce and LogMeIn, are increasingly supported by corporate IT departments. Girish Varma, CIO at Qwest, acknowledges "this is in the beginning stages but we are seeing the movement. Most of our applications for external customers are already moving into mobility devices".

The CIO's acknowledged that more and more applications bought or downloaded externally should interface with the enterprise. However, as noted by Brian Bonner of TI, "this is still unfinished business for us and currently we don‘t manage that. Right now, I get fairly limited access to the enterprise from my iPad".

Perhaps the greatest catalyst for change may be the labor market. Even in a down economy, companies still have to compete fiercely for engineering talent. Marty Chuck asks "are you going to lock the doors and not bring in the 20-somethings? Imagine a consumer company that blocked social networking sites; they would not attract the workforce they need. We need a blending of traditional enterprise tools with how people are living and working today".

Steve Brown at Omnicare, speaks for many CIO's when he discusses recruiting a younger workforce. "We will lose talent if we don’t offer the kind of environment that is comfortable to them; even if there are security issues".

Corporate IT departments, listen to your peers. There is higher productivity, lower costs and enhanced recruiting with the transition to a mobile-centric model. Your colleagues (and maybe even the CEO) will appreciate the flexibility…AND the ability to play Angry Birds (http://www.rovio.com/index.php?page=angry-birds-walkthrough-videos) on company devices. What are you waiting for?

Levi Shapiro is a Partner at TMT Strategic Advisors, a research and strategy firm focusing on the technology, media and telecom sectors. He can be reached at levi@tmtstrat.com or via twitter: @levshapiro

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