Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

The confusing Google, the Halloween-ish Google

A couple of days or weeks ago the market informed that Google passed Microsoft in terms of market value and is now no. 2 behind Apple. No problem with that.

My problem or what constantly confuses me with Google is that they are nowhere and everywhere. And I don’t understand their strategy. Apple obviously has a lot of products and services to buy or subscribe to. Same goes for Microsoft and IBM as well. Facebook gathers people in a social media tool. Apple, Microsoft, IBM and Facebook attempt to rule some part of the IT and consumer world, and that’s ok with me.

But what part of the world is Google trying to rule? I would say every part. And that’s not ok with me. Especially since I don’t know what, how and who. Some might say I’m not well informed and so it might be. I’m not well informed about Apple or Microsoft either but I still know some basics about them based on my modest media coverage.

Google do great services and I use them many times every day: search, blogspot, analytics, translate, pictures, youtube, gmail, maps etc… and this is where it becomes scary.

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

BYOD 2 – A possibility for "the cool guys"

In the first part (BYOD 1 – What is, why trend) I wrote about some basics about what BYOD is and why it has become a trend. We also got some information about what vendors, analysts and journalists say and think about it. Now let's look into for whom is BYOD good for: BYOD 2 - a possibillity for the cool guys.

First; I won’t further discuss this but employers who are having a policy which says “here you have some money, go by your own” is to me a employer who don’t have an attractive device policy. They are just struggling to be an attractive employer and have a weak policy and management level, which is controlled by the employees. It will only create an administrative mess. Just think about simple thing like if the employer buys a device not good enough, who’s responsible to return or upgrade it? And when someone ends their employment after 1 month or 1 year, before the depreciation time ends, should the employer give the “so personal” device to someone else? Just skip this way of BYO, its buy your own and it’s not good for anyone more than the hardware vendor. Let’s focus on the BRING your own.

For vendors of pads and smartphones it’s definitely worth pushing BYOD. But this market will increase whether or not BYOD-model will be implemented by the employer.

For vendors of virtual desktops it will be a continued golden era. My opinion is that virtual desktops (VD) have a, undeserved, bad reputation, this because of bad tradition of lazy communication links and old versions of VD’s. Virtual desktops are a really good way to connect to the employer’s palette of services. With the newer versions from Citrix, VMware, Microsoft and all the others you can get a really nice employer and employee user experience. I will get back to VD’s in a later post.

For vendors of management software the development have to proceed with or without the BYOD. The market of pads and smartphones + the market of VD’s increases and companies have to orchestrate and provide desktops/apps to many different devices.

Fine, the business seems to grow for the main segment of vendors to BYOD solutions…with or without BYOD.

But – if you look at the BYOD trend in general, not on pads, VD’s and management systems, how big is this market and for whom is it for? Sorry, but I think we expect too much of BYOD. I am not going to tear every good reason of freedom down. I am sure I have more than 10 killer reasons why not BYOD. Neither I will embrace why you should allow and implement BYOD. I will focus on some basic reasons why it might be complicated for BYOD to grow and become a legacy standard in delivering IT. Also, and probably the main reason, why it will be difficult to see wins for both employees and employers.

People, by nature, will try to save money so they will try this, they will claim it is a working tool. And - who wouldn’t?! In Sweden and many other countries you do a yearly income declaration. In some cases you are able to withdraw private costs for clothes and tools you need to use in your work. How will tax authorities handle this? I’m quite sure the tax authority will say no no pointing “your employee agreement doesn’t say you should bring your own and we expect your employer should provide you with the device you need.”

Some industries will never ever support own devices. Banks, defense, audit, research in medical and technique etc. Just think about the rigorous security programs and policies companies have to secure their business from attacks, industrial espionage etc. The effort to achieve a secure BYOD-program is too high both from a risk and a cost perspective.

In the first part I talked about Apple being the guys to thank for BYOD. Windows still has a devastating majority of all the professional desktops around the world. But many employers now more do allow, or start to implement, Mac in their standard device portfolio. And when this is implemented at a reasonable level many Mac users most probably want a client the employer pays for instead of bringing their own.

The reason I started to think about BYOD was for this reason; who are the BYOD targeted people and what happens when the bringing becomes an employer demand? I will talk about the employer demand in part 3, so first; who are the targeted people? The people I think about works in areas like IT, market and sales. Not seldom talented with creative skills. Not seldom young. Not seldom with a quite nice salary. The privileged people, the cool guys. How about all the others? Where the absolute mass of people reside = where the margin and all the easy money resides. Note! I haven’t done any research. I am struggling to find other users but it’s difficult, and don’t think I haven’t thought about this. How many are there in industries like industry, health care, general offices – all the “normal” people, the mass, the money? No, they won’t bring their own devices to work – they won’t. If a nurse was allowed to use his/her iPad to read journals on the round he/she wouldn’t – it’s in the walls.

To me BYOD is something for the cool guys. Success stories should include easy money, easy money won’t be found at the cool guys’ level– they are far too few to give big business. Save the BYOD campaign money to something better.

Until part 3 remember; if you bring your own you own it and are responsible for it!

Thursday, 10 November 2011

BYOD 1 – What is, why trend

Can BYOD be all things good? I would say; yes for the individual hip young guys but in general; no.

I have been thinking a couple of weeks about BYOD. Right now I cannot really say; yes, I like it and it’s the future – hurrah!

First; this article will be more on a philosophy and maybe even on a political level. Some might even call me bad things. It is based on how society’s and employment works and I know it differs a lot between countries, definitely Sweden versus the US. Since being Swedish I’m more familiar with the Swedish society and if I fail trying to put this on an international level I apologize. The main purpose is to look at BYOD from another perspective and not to discuss societies and country rules and laws. Neither will I focus on technique nor how software works. It is about the trend BYOD.

The article is build up in three parts. In the first part I will focus on what BYOD is and why it has become a trend. The second part will be about for whom the trend is available for and has a relevancy in a 1-5 years perspective. Third and last part will be about when the possibility becomes a demand and have a relevancy in a 5-15 years perspective, maybe even less.

What is

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is what it says; you can bring your own device and this to your work. It started with BYOC (bring your own computer) but today we have pads, smart phones and computers so Device wraps it up better. The own device can be your true own device and it can be sponsored or loaned from your employer. When sponsored the employer gives you x amount of money to buy the computer equipment you want and need. When loaned the employer loans you x amount of money to buy the computer equipment you want and need. Beware of; who owns the device if you end your employment; taxes if your government counts it like benefits above your salary. BYOD is about to use the computer/device you want and fits your needs best.

For the employer BYOD means they have to solve compatibility issues and license agreement rules when delivering the IT services to different communication links, operating systems and devices, owned by other than the company. Some functions and systems to be considered:

- Storage and security solutions to store company and user data
- Security to be sure connecting devices and users are the correct ones. Attacks might increase because of BYOD
- Virtual desktop solutions to provide IT services to multiple device standards
- Orchestrator-tool to support and manage all the different devices

And they all have to be excellent.

The trend

Well, is it a trend? Yes, definitely.

I really don’t know why BYOD has become a trend and why people really want to bring their own device to work. Is it only the choice of freedom that calls or is it an underlying lobby organization making the call. Well, in some way it is true but the “organization behind” spells consumerization and the explosion of tablets. Consumerization is when consumers bring trends and technique to business instead of the opposite. The BYOD trend should really be ascribed to Apple and as Victoria Barret says; “thanks Apple”.

Victoria Barret, Forbes, ‘Thanks Apple: The B.Y.O.D. Trend

“This might be what makes the B.Y.O.D. short-hand so apt. It is like a B.Y.O.B. dinner. Your IT department will supply the meat and potatoes (think chunky, salty ERP systems), but if you want to have a really good time, you’re left to your own devices.”

I would say the trend has evolved and emerged because of Apple and young people born in late 80’s and early 90’s. Young people who love the choice of freedom and who definitely love Apple, which many employers don’t, or haven’t implemented. Remember these users are the early adaptors and should really be handled with respect. They represent present and future users and leaders. If they continue loving the choice of freedom or gets “boring” when they grow older, like me, we will notice. But they are the influencers of BYOD and many things right now and next x0’s will probably inherit their strength. To the young people’s influence add social networking that are easy to use on pads and smart phones. Social networking you want to bring with you everywhere even to work. So thanks Apple for the BYOD trend, whether you like it or not.

My point

Personally I’m really not that keen bringing my own devices to work with. One of many reasons is because I’ve paid for it and no one has told me my salary should go to working equipment’s. But hey, I’m 41 years “young” so maybe I’m not the primary target. Anyway, some might say; “but you wearing your own clothes”. I am not going in to that discussion…

It might be like Victoria Barret says, or maybe; you might feel so. You want to use cooler or better devices than your employer can offer. Or maybe; you want to use Mac’s and almost every employer offers Windows PC’s. And maybe; you want to use a tablet or smartphones but your employer only uses PC’s and standard phones/mobiles.

As an employee you can always ask yourself; are you responsible for making meat and potatoes or making really good times?

As an employer you definitely should ask; how can we attract good people? Offer attractive devices or go for the BYOD? Should we give the employees really good times even if they only should make meat and potatoes?

What happens if employer offers more attractive devices i.e. iPad’s, Galaxy’s, iMac’s etc.; will the BYOD trend drop dead?

What happens when vendors only sell one hardware and one license instead of two; will the BYOD trend drop dead?

Reading articles

I have read about 10-15 different BYOD-articles the last couple of week, some of them sponsored. I would say all of them either praises or tell us “think about’s” about BYOD but no one questions the concept. Here are some examples.

Citrix BYO - www.citrix.com/byo

"Trying to cope with the flood of personal and non-traditional devices at work? You don’t need an IT floodgate. Embrace employee-owned devices. Rising employee expectations, virtual workstyles and limited IT budgets all require a radical shift in business processes.”

Basically Citrix virtual desktops/apps with a BYOD touch.

Gartner in there ‘Gartner Report BYOC checklist’ (you have to register)

“Key Findings
The benefits of an employee-owned notebook program include freedom of managing nonstrategic assets; more time for IT staff to focus on high-value, high ROI initiatives; a more attractive workplace to attract new hires; and increased user productivity.


Lots of embracing and great recommendations but…no critique. And Gartner is in contrast to Citrix an analytics company. Of course this is a guide so no real analyze about BYOD itself, and it is a really good guide everyone should read before even thinking about a BYOD roll out.

Charles Bess, Enterprise CIO Forum, ‘Are there 5 top reasons CIOs should allow a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy?

“I was reading a post from one of the security experts at HP titled: Top 5 Enterprise Security Challenges with "Bring Your Own Device." When it comes to allowing employees to use their own devices at work, there are some real support, data control and security issues, but the blog post made me wonder: Are there 5 top reasons CIOs should encourage a “bring your own device” policy?”

Bringing some issues up…but drops them a bit too easy.

Jeffrey Burt, eWeek, ‘HP Unveils Business Services for Mobile Applications

"HP and its rivals, including Cisco System and Juniper Networks, are rapidly rolling out solutions to help businesses deal with the growing BYOD trend, which has been fueled by the rising use of Apple iPhones and Google Android-based smartphones and, more recently, tablet PCs driven by the popularity of Apple’s iPads. The trend is toward greater use of mobile devices, and a greater demand by workers to use their own devices—rather than ones issued by employers—to access the corporate network.”And so it continues. Of course companies developing devices and management tools can’t speak negative – this is business. But I’m a bit confused about the general “fresh” attitude from journalists and analytics.

A good one about challenges with BYOD by Paul Schwartz, HP, which Charles Bess refers to: ‘Top 5 Enterprise Security Challenges with "Bring Your Own Device"’, here’s one of them:

5. Who pays? – enterprises need to decide who should pay for the mobile device, who pays for data charges, and who should pay for business related apps. Data charges while roaming abroad can be particularly significant.”

I will end up with a great debate between Ken Hess and Heather Clancy on ZDNET called ‘Reality vs Pipe dream

Ken Hess: “Almost everyone owns an advanced phone and a laptop, netbook or tablet, so why not allow employees to use those devices in corporate work environments? Bring your own device is a new strategy being used by or considered by corporate IT departments. It allows employees to use devices with which they're comfortable and at a lower overall expense to the employee's company. It's an intelligent change in the corporate landscape to lower the costs associated with acquiring, deploying and maintaining devices, to reduce the number of required support personnel, and to decrease the possibility of single vendor lock-in.”

Heather Clancy: “Be honest: Do you want someone telling you what you can and cannot do with your personal technology? BYOD seems like a great idea for productivity, until you try manage it.


So

Is BYOD the future? Might be but watch out for the possible consequences. Will it be available for more people than the young and “cool guys”? And what happens when the BYOD becomes an employer’s demand? Might be scary. Watch out for my upcoming posts about BYOD.

Meantime; if you consider a BYOD roll out program read Gartner’s ‘Gartner Report BYOC checklist’

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Apple - the rise and the fall?!

Short one:

When Apple started their crusade to win the device battle with the release of iPod, iPhone, iMac and iPad, with all the patents and license agreements connected to them, they also started their journey to lose more than they won. Not today, tomorrow or next year but I'm quite sure they not will dominate the market within a decade. When trying to rule the world with too many rules and no partners to team up with, you always end up short in a quite short time. It works when you go to a specific market but not when you go to the mass and the mass like it, the mass will always, sooner or later, start to like something else whether or not it is cheaper, more expensive, better or worse.

With the driven business mind Apple (and others) have; add teaming, openness and humbleness. Then success normally ends up good. Those three are far to underestimated.

Just a thought...in Max mind.