Enterprise Mobility

Mobility is de rigueur (required by the current fashion or

custom; socially obligatory) for any self respecting tech setup these days. So,

this piece is not  about the obvious choices and trends in mobile data

access for your workforce.  This piece will focus on the associated issues

that both the user and the tech team is likely to face. Along the way, we will

also recommend some solutions of the tech kind and some of the not-so-tech kind.

Let us start with the first of our two predictions. The

usage of affordable mobile devices that can connect to the network, as well as

to the Internet over multiple wireless protocols raises a number of issues, of

security, of access and of connectivity.

The IT department is more likely



to grapple with these issues of policy rather than with those of

technology  implementation.



For example, should users be allowed to use their personal laptops at the

workplace, instead of office machines? If yes, does the office get the same

amount of control over the software running on those machines, as they have on

the other machines?

If those machines (with valuable enterprise data) crash, is

the organization responsible to recover it? Who will pay for it?

What about an outsider who walks in with a Blue tooth

enabled device (most cell phones and almost all PDAs today are bluetooth

enabled) that scans and connects to open Bluetooth connections in notebooks

across the office?

An average IT department that does some monitoring and

enforcing of controls on the infrastructure being used (but not too strictly)

would be the one that is going to be the most heavily taxed by the addition of a

plethora of mobile devices to the network.

The answer like with any other tech infrastructure problem

lies in getting your user policies in place first, and then working out the tech

details. Many companies have already started locking down their employees'

laptops ports, and installing other security software.

Another challenge that IT departments will face is in

reformatting their application GUIs and Web pages (intranet applications

included) to fit mobile

devices, particularly cellphones and PDAs. With an ever

increasing number of platforms (operating system/Software or browser supported /

hardware) and screen sizes around, IT departments will be forced to limit the

platforms they support to a few and, thus, may be forced to drive some level of

standardization of mobile platforms for across the organization, as they strive

to deliver richer interfaces to mobile devices.

Will users resent this? Of course they will, particularly

when the cell phone and PDA are items of personal purchase. Some organizations,

at least, will get around the problem by making the cell phone and PDA also

items of office issue, much like the notebook. Others may go half way with

subsidized purchases. That brings us to prediction number two, and its impact on

the IT infrastructure and the department. With mobile devices like the cellphone

becoming data and network enabled, the demand that the workplace places on the

employee's personal time will be on the



increase.

A natural corollary of this is that the IT infrastructure

has to be always available, and traditional models like backup and maintenance

of the infrastructure during off peak hours will have to undergo some

modifications in the long run.

In the short term, the IT department will have to make some

provisions for round the clock technology support availability (if they do not

already have it in place). Mobility is here not only to stay but to fluorish

over the years.  This is just the beginning, so it's better to start

planning out your strategy to manage it in the future.