Control The Wireless Agenda

Written by Ed Hess, Executive Editor, Integrated Solutions Magazine

For a quick mental exercise, divide your IT spending in the past year into two categories: 1) IT for inside the four walls of your company; 2) IT for outside the four walls of your company. There's bound to be some crossover and expenditures that don't fit nicely into these two categories. But, generally speaking, I'm guessing you're spending more on technologies that enhance productivity within your company than those that enhance your company from without. Taking one more step out onto the same limb, connectivity within your entire enterprise (inside and outside) isn't as strong as you would like it to be.

Prior to Y2K, you spent a great deal of time overhauling enterprise applications. And over the last few years, you've used what's left of your budget to eke more performance out of the applications you have in place. While you weren't looking, however, employees have been investing their own money to increase their own performance. It's easy for you to know the type of PC or laptop that every employee is using. But, it's probably impossible for you to name the types of PDAs and smart phones in the hands of your employees who are now accessing corporate data and e-mail.

The E-Mail Headache Revisited
When I talk to many end user companies, there's a sense that they're losing control of this wireless form of communication. Like e-mail before it, mobile devices are somehow slipping under the radar screen and infiltrating the enterprise. The devices are priced like commodities, yet contain very sophisticated features and functionality. Other similarities to e-mail include the personal/professional nature of the communication transactions and added security risks that tend to keep IT managers up at night.

It's hard to believe that it took enterprises so long to get a handle on e-mail transactions. Wireless devices seem to be heading down the same path. Device vendors have been pitching the "enterprise" sale for a long time. Still, they find themselves selling to individuals or groups instead of companies.

Control The Conversation, Control The Technology
Your ability to manage the inside-the-four-walls business of your company will increasingly be measured on how effectively you are able to incorporate the outside-the-four-walls technology. I'm not advocating a blanket purchase order for PDAs and smart phones for every employee. But, a detailed set of company guidelines on individual device purchases, device usage, and device support is a good place to start.

E-mail was never a problem that went away or managed itself. Wireless technology, at a minimum, offers the same headaches. There's no sense in playing defense. The only way to win is to go on the offensive, embrace the technology, and dictate the context in which your company views it.