Handheld devices and notebooks aren't the only things needing to be managed in the shift to mobility. Surveys suggest that many managers are still reluctant to empower their workers to take their data -- and their daily work -- out of the office with them.
- Introduction
- The disconnected node
- Whole world in your hand
- Building for mobility
- Engineering the business
- Ten steps to good mobility
Such issues may have been a problem in the past, but a growing culture of mobile working in progressive organisations -- backed by perfectly workable management tools that extend corporate data management and security policies into the field -- has turned that on its head. Forward-looking companies are racing to embrace mobility, with many solutions resolving the visibility problem by offering continuously updated online presence information.
Fears about the spectre of new attacks via mobile devices can't help their perception any, but managers need to realise that this risk, like any other, can be more than adequately managed with the right combination of technology and processes. Combine managerial will to explore new business opportunities with the technology to make it happen, and you've got a potentially winning combination.
"We've got the opportunity where, when businesses actually think about jobs and job roles, they have got to think more creatively about how they can get people to perform optimally," says Dr James Cowley, a business strategist with Instinct & Reason who reviewed the Toshiba survey. "Now, for example, you don't have to get everybody into one little room at the same time for a meeting, but can do this through software. If you're not putting people under amazing pressures, you can actually get better performance out of them."
In taking a secure, realistic approach to mobile computing, you can also ensure that your employees' newfound freedom doesn't create a security headache for your company's IT staff. Just be sure to take a consistent, centralised approach to managing all sorts of devices and you'll be able to ensure that security and data protection policies are applied equally across mobile and fixed equipment.
Thankfully, you have room to move now: by the time the virus writers figure out how to really do a number on smart phones, most companies planning on using them should have robust enough network and data protection in place that even a rogue field device won't be able to compromise the many benefits of mobile working.
I just watched a webcast on managing Windows Mobile at http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/msecmobility.aspx. I would guess that mobile phone use will grow quickly in the next decade.