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36
With sales up 48% on last year, the
tablet computer is the big success
story of 2013. Apple and Samsung
are the two big brands, with 89% of
the market between them, while the
newcomer, Microsoft, which offers two
tablet operating systems on its Surface
(Win 8 andWin RT), has won 1.8% of
the market so far, with the Surface Pro
being the most popular.
MS Surface is very new so sales are
still relatively small, but as Microsoft has
the lion’s share of the corporate desktop
market and the Surface was made to
work with Office, Microsoft should be an
important contender in this market. The
7” tablet, which is attractive for its small
size, is another option.
Apple sold 19.5 million iPhones
worldwide in the first quarter of 2013
alone and analysts predict that one billion
smartphones will be sold in 2013, with
over 50% of the market going to Samsung
and Apple. Sales of less functional mobile
phone are expected to decline.
There is no doubt that tablets/
smartphones are the devices of choice
for work and play and that the consumer
market, which moves faster than the
corporate market, is dictating how we use
such devices at work.
IT challenge
This is the phenomenon that IT
departments call ‘Bring Your Own Device’
(BYOD). For them, it means having to
work with devices and operating systems
that they did not choose. Instead, they
have to go along with employees’ choices,
so you could also call the situation
‘Choose Your Own Device’ (CYOD not
BYOD).
What’s more, company staff and
visitors are used to getting instant access
to data through smart devices and expect
to be able to get online as soon as they
walk through the company door. They
expect immediate access, fast response,
and they want it via a wireless network.
Combining fast access, fast response
and wireless is one challenge, but the
network also needs to be secure. It is
important people can’t see things on the
network that they don’t have permission
to use: the network needs Chinese walls
to protect data belonging to the company
and individuals and that requires a whole
new layer of solutions.
The network also needs extra IP
addresses. If you have 150 people in an
office, all with PCs on their desks plus 150
additional devices, you will need extra
IP addresses and physical connections.
It all adds up to a huge headache for
IT management and a potential re-
investment in your IT infrastructure.
Apps on tap
Another concern is that individuals’ choice
of apps will slow down the network. All
tablets are productivity tools and each
device has its own marketplace for apps
Smartphones
BYOD:
a survival guide
Tom Perry considers what businesses
must do to address the many
challenges posed by BYOD.
– almost anything you can think of is on
offer. Increasingly, individuals are choosing
their own productivity tools and not going
along with corporate policy. For example,
you might have Powerpoint in the office,
but Prezi, which is friendlier, on your
tablet. Ultimately, employees are bringing
these apps onto the company network.
It’s difficult to predict where trends
will go next, but there could be a move
to smaller tablets that are easier to carry,
or maybe people will use several devices,
one in each location.We think tablet
sales will soon plateau in the UK market
and companies will be able to solve the
issues outlined above. Sometimes they
will do this by supplying devices for staff
to use.We are already seeing this in retail
finance, where employees are starting to
use iPads on the floor of the bank.
Forward-thinking companies already
have systems and policies in place. It is
quite possible to link Apple, Microsoft and
Android to a company network; it just
needs the right tools to manage all of this
and maintain security.
To conclude, I suggest that all
companies take steps to protect their
corporate data: have a defined process
to look at smartphone adoption in your
business; see which devices can get onto
your network and how far can they get;
and develop a policy that is user friendly
and accommodates BYOD.
A good starting point is to ask your
staff these three questions:What are you
using?What are you using it for? And
what applications are you using? Once
you have this information, you can start
to manage the situation better.
Tom Perry is Marketing Director of
Connect Communications, an independent
Unified Communications consultancy
operating internationally from the City of
London. Connect’s website can be found
at
www.connectcs.com
.
Tel:
0207 950 3200
.
...analysts
predict that
one billion
smartphones
will be sold
in 2013, with
over 50% of
the market
going to
Samsung and
Apple.