In Part 1 of this series, we look at the criteria IT can use to evaluate different types of wireless devices in order to put the right hardware in the hands of the right worker. In Part 2, we discuss which smartphone operating systems are the most corporate-friendly. In Part 3, we tell you what the enterprise user needs to know about the growing array of netbooks, smartbooks, and tablets. In Part 4, we conclude our series with some tips and advice to help you choose the right devices to meet the diverse needs of your mobile workers.
Device Wars Part 1
Today, more than 87% of the U.S. population has at least one activated wireless device. As I have predicted, and as the major networks confirm, this percentage will easily move toward 300% over time. Why? Because many of us will carry multiple wireless devices. Some will require separate wireless subscriptions (at least for now), and some will have embedded wireless that 't require a subscription (e.g., the Amazon Kindle).
If you are an enterprise IT manger, how many devices your company's employees will use will depend on the type of work they do in the field and their requirements for data services. Before getting into specific device choices, let's look at how I categorize devices and how decisions will be made as to how many each of us will need and how often we will use them.
The first category has to do with the devices we carry and how often we carry them. I refer to this as the conscious versus unconscious-carry scenario. Basically, an unconscious-carry device is one you carry all the time, e.g., your wireless phone, BlackBerry, or other smartphone. You always have it with you either on you, in your purse, or within reach even when sitting at your desk.
Whenever you go out, even for a quick sandwich, it goes with you. For most of us, this is our primary communications device, replacing landline home and office phones and providing access to voice, text messaging, and in some cases, email, calendar, phone book, and other applications.
Conscious-carry devices are larger. They might fit into a briefcase, purse, or backpack, and they may be a notebook that serves as both a desktop and a travel PC. These are conscious-carry devices because you ask yourself every time you leave your home or office if you really need to take them with you or if you can get along for this trip with only your primary communications device.
With the advent of smartphones, many people have begun leaving conscious-carry devices home more often, especially for same-day meetings away from the office or one or two-day trips. Conscious-carry devices are available in many different form factors including traditional laptop computers, smaller and lighter laptops, netbooks, smartbooks, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and tablet computers.
Their weight runs from five to six pounds down to less than two pounds, and battery life from a low of three to four hours to 10 hours or more. Most of these devices are designed for data and have no voice capability, and most can be connected via wired modem, wired Ethernet, and Wi-Fi. Many now include a USB dongle or built-in wireless modem for wireless broadband services.
What Information Is Needed?
Next in my classification tree is whether the user simply needs access to information stored on the Internet or behind the company firewall, or whether the user needs to create work while in the field, and if so, what type of work. If the user needs a device purely for information access, with little or no work creation, in many instances, conscious-carry devices do not even need to be considered. BlackBerrys, iPhones, and other smartphones provide quick and easy access to the Internet or to corporate data stores.
If the user is creating work in the field, such as data collection, PowerPoint presentations, or long memos or other documents, then a conscious-carry device with a decent-sized keyboard might be preferable. However, if the goal is to be able to present already created slides or other presentation material, perhaps a smaller conscious-carry device would do the job.
Mostly Connected
The final consideration is whether the user and the company understand two basics about wireless and Internet access:
- Do they understand that the Internet is NOT a mission-critical network
- Do they also understand that wireless connectivity is NOT always available?
Our wireless devices can best be described as being always on and most of the time connected. There is no guarantee of connectivity, nor is there a guarantee that you will always be able to access the information you want and need when on the road if you are connected. Data that resides only in the cloud or behind your corporate firewall is not always accessible.
Now that we have criteria for the evaluation of different types of devices, next we'll take a look at the categories and how each fits into this equation. In Part 2 of this series, I will discuss various smartphones options. In Part 3, I'll explore netbooks and smartbooks. And in Part 4, I'll delve into two of the newer classifications: mobile internet devices (MIDs) and next-generation tablet computers led, of course, by the introduction of the Apple iPad. There are mobile many choices today, and there will be many more in the future. At the end of this series we'll give you some guidelines on how to choose what's best for your workers.
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