The challenges for IT managers from BYOD

David Bicknell

11 months ago 1 Comment

Not so long ago, having a corporate BlackBerry was a perk of the job. You could get corporate email on it, it looked pretty cool to have one, and although it had a fiddly trackball, the keyboard made answering emails relatively easy on the go.

And then along came the iPhone. And then the iPad.

Now, with consumerisation and bring your own device (BYOD) approaches being embraced by companies, IT managers are facing difficult decisions on the future of the BlackBerry devices used by employees.

According to a recent survey conducted by research firm ThinkEquity, 50% of IT managers plan to replace RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) systems within the coming year. And 70% plan to do so within the next two years.

Given BlackBerry’s strong security, IT departments like them. The problem – and the reality – is that everyone in the organisation who wants a mobile device, generally prefers Apple or Android. That is a problem for IT managers – and an even bigger problem for BlackBerry’s maker RIM.

With another new iPhone expected in September or October, and more and more corporate users wanting iPads - and access to applications ('apps'), usually in app stores - the consumerisation headache for IT managers is unlikely to go away. To their credit, most have accepted that consumerisation is here, and are taking steps to embrace it.

They will need to. 80% of Fortune 100 companies now have some level of deployment or testing to enable iPad support in the enterprise and by 2014, according to the Gartner research firm, the installed base of devices based on mobile operating systems, iOS and Android will exceed the total installed base of all PCs.

The problem for many IT departments is now the sheer number of requests they have to deal on issues around devices, largely because each member of staff has so many of them: a laptop, a smartphone and a tablet computer, frequently an iPad.

For IT, the dreaded words have become, "Oh, and while you're here, could you.....?"

Comments

Lubasi Musambo

This is an interesting view point,but strictly from an African perspective, I would say BlackBerry still has some life in it. In Africa, BlackBerry thrives due to it's seamless internet service and secure platform (News24 viewed 20 July 2012 at 20:05Hours GMT+2 www.news24.com). The iPhone device and it's relative the iPad are expensive and BlackBerry devices are positioned and differentiated well on cost and/or PRICE to cater for low,middle and high end earners (I have not come across an iPhone coversing this range, e.g. in Zambia, where I live the iPhone would be priced for as high as $1428 while a BlackBerry can fetch for upto $285). The price in Africa normally determines purchase. I am not sure whre this research by ThinkEquity was conducted but I may conclude that it is NOT in AFRICA and therefore, may NOT be fully represented. The argument of going for an iPhone and/or iPad to me just a FAD argument.

IMIS