Iphone

While the iPhone to me has some similarity to the entrance of Blackberries to the corporate world in that many IT organizations only supported Blackberries when they got “pushed” to do so because the CEO wanted one, it is different now since the iPhone is a different use case than the Blackberry. The Blackberry is pretty much an exclusive office tool, since it’s core value prop is about email. The iPhone, or for that matter Android’s, core value is internet access for social networking, YouTube viewing, etc. So employees get one since they want one for personal usage. And since they have that one, and don’t want to also carry around the authorized office mobility tool, they want to make sure it’s connected to the office.

Many people are even willing to buy their desired mobility device, but just want the IT department to make sure it connects. In fact, in Dialogic, I probably had the first employee on my team in Dialogic who used an iPhone - he had bought it with his own money and simply wanted it connected to the network, and rejected the Dialogic supplied Blackberry. It was not simple, but it happened. And I’m sure this is not unique.

My point is that if you’re an IT manager, and you see the onslaught of cool devices out there, and if you haven’t figured it out already, you have lost control…and if you haven’t yet, it might just start when you return from your holidays since a good percentage of your employees may have gotten one of these things 3 days ago. smiley-laughing