My a bit clumsy comment to 'Is Desktop Virtualization The Way To Go?'

I commented the post Is Desktop Virtualization The Way To Go? by Abdul Salam on CloudTweaks last week.

Short break out:

"So now let us look a little deeper on what desktop virtualization brings to the table. 

Here are some of the most notable benefits:

• Global access through any device that can connect to the internet and have display and input functions like smartphones and tablets.

• Most virtual desktop solutions also support local storage drives and printers, while others might use some local processing power like graphics and sound processing.

• Allows for quick integration, upgrade, and change of applications for select user groups, individuals, and globally.

• Enhance security and data integrity plus easy backup solutions. Minimize data theft

”Citrix? Whew!” Or?

This is a translated and modified version of the post ‘”Citrix? Usch!” Eller?’ (in Swedish) published originally in TeleComputing News No 1 2012.

A good cons and pros post about VDI I also want to recommend is ‘The Pros and Cons of Using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure’ published on PCWorld by Logan Harbaugh.

---------------------

Several times I‘ve heard comments like ”no, we don’t want to use Citrix, it’s slow and works bad” or ”we know your services are great but don’t say Citrix, it’s a bad word in our company”. I’ve been thinking about this attitude a lot of times because my experience is not the same, rather the reversed.

"Citrix? Usch!" Eller?

Below is my post about Citrix from TeleComputings newsletter No 1 2012. I will translate it to English and do some modification as soon as possible. The title will be like '"Citrix? Wheh!" Or?'

-----------

Tillfällena är många där jag hört kommentaren ”nej, vi vill inte köra Citrix, det fungerar så dåligt” eller ”vi vet att ni har bra tjänster men säg inte Citrix, det är ett skällsord här”. Och jag har funderat många gånger på varför, för min upplevelse och erfarenhet är inte densamma utan egentligen helt tvärtom.

Nu kanske du tänker ”ja vad skulle han annars säga” med tanke på att TeleComputing i mångas ögon är synonymt med Citrix-lösningar. Men ni som känner mig samt läser mina inlägg här och där vet att jag inte hissar upp något som inte bör hissas upp eller skräder orden när jag tycker något är fel. Jag gillar virtuella arbetsplatser. Sen lång tid tillbaka är det Citrix som gjort virtuella arbetsplatsleveranser möjliga på ett bra sätt, om än konkurrensen stadigt ökar på marknaden. Och Citrix är även en del av vårt unika koncept OnDemand som förra året förärades med en ny plattform (= ny och förbättrad teknik, tjänster, processer och funktioner).

Är Citrix = usch och vad beror då upplevelserna som jag tidigare nämnde på?

re-Eureka!

Yesterday I visited Cisco Plus 2012 in Stockholm. Of course with focus on network and communication. Also big focus on BYO, virtual desktops, video and UC which all are close related to network and communication.

Today I read a post about IT departments and leaders who are worried over cloud and video bandwidth demands (‘IT stressed over cloud and video bandwidth demands’ by Brandon Butler on InfoWorld.

Last week I visited NetApp Innovation 2012 in Stockholm. Focus of course on storage and Big Data.

Yesterday on the Cisco event I got this re-Eureka! moment again. “Network, communication and storage are so important. How can I forget? I wonder if everyone understands how important good, fast and reliable infrastructure services are.”

End of PC era?

Earlier this evening I commented the teasing post "Windows 8 Proves That The Death Of The PC Is Greatly Exaggerated" by Erik Kain (@erikkain) on Forbes.

Short break out:

"Every now and then we hear rumors of the death of the PC. The rise of the tablet, and especially the iPad, makes these rumors far more common. Take this article in the New York Times, titled “As New iPad Debut Nears, Some See Decline Of PC.”

To be fair, it’s a reasonably balanced article, noting in the end that it’s much more likely that tablets and PCs will simply become more indistinguishable.

BYOD-commented...I couldn't resist

Sorry, but I couldn't resist to comment another BYOD-post. Why? Because it was really good and spot on it why BYOD, not consumerization, might not be thats success everyone's buzzing about.

The post: 'BYOD: Good for whom exactly?' by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols on Computerworld.

Short breakout:

"It would be one thing if companies paid for users' personal equipment and services, but I really fear BYOD is becoming just another way to shift costs off the company budget and onto employee's backs. Worse still, I can see BYOD actually blocking people from being hired.

So, even though I'm a BYOD user through and through, I can't really get behind the idea that BYOD is that great an idea for everyone."

My comment:

First; great read.

 

I’ve promised myself to not comment or write any more “negative” posts about BYO. I don’t want to become the “old grumpy guy”, but BYO has become my windmill (Don Quijote) for the moment. But finally I’ve found some guys who been doing some thinking, beyond the possibility. My point is that almost everyone points to the choice of freedom but never takes the time to think of the possible consequences of implementing a BYO-program.

 

My biggest concern is when the possibility becomes a demand. When the employer demands you to bring a device and the different between keeping the job is a golden support contract connected to the device.

 

I’m pro consumerization and evolution but I’m not that keen to BYO. Instead of a BYO I think companies should consider to implement a wider device policy a CYO (Choose Your Own)-program where employees can choose from a ending list of devices (smartphones, pads, PC, Mac etc.).

 

If you want to read more about my BYOD opinions you can find them on inmaxmind.com. Latest post is the “Last windmill attack!”. But it seems it didn’t become the last one… I couldn’t resist… ;)

 

Short break out from “Last windmill attack!”:

 

“My biggest concerns with BYOD are:

- When it becomes an employer demand that you should bring it and no longer is a possibility.

- Who are able to bring their devices – “the cool guys”?

- Will the support contract connected to your device be equal to keeping your employment or not?

- The IMHO administrative mess.

- Why people should bring devices. Don’t employers earn the money to provide it, isn’t that included in budget? Shouldn’t then the employer get paid and the company board higher the company revenue demand?

 

With these bullets I stop the main attack. But please keep them in mind.Other people’s concerns seems to be more at risks like management systems, company data access on private devices and how to access the company services. My opinion; these are all techniques and policies issues which can be solved.”

Last windmill attack!

If you’ve been following me you most probably noticed I’m not that keen to BYOD. You then also know I written a 3 step BYOD-story and commented every BYOD post I’ve met.


I’m getting a bit tired of myself in this subject know so I won’t write another article in my “crusade”, my attack against thee windmill BYOD. So this will be my last windmill attack (Don Quijote). I might comment some posts though.

In this last post attacking BYOD I will also defend it.

My biggest concerns with BYOD are:

Another BYOD-post commented

BYOD must be my windmill (Don Quijote)! ;)

Added a comment to the post 'Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend' by Rachel King on ZDNet.

Short break out:
"Tablet computing in the enterprise world is about to hit a major turning point in 2012, but there are definitely some serious roadblocks ahead, according to a new report from Cisco.

BYOD 3 – When the possibility becomes a demand

Humans are by nature creatures of habits and have been for ages. They like to know what to do tomorrow, next week and next month. Some people like it more monotonically some like it more varied. During the last decades the staffing business and independent contracting has made big entrances to the market. This type of employment fits some people better some worse. (I won’t go into the staffing business market and independent contracting but on a brief level I think they are devastating to people. Read my first sentences and you understand why. ) Normally young people are more or less forced into this type of employment. On the other hand it can be a gold mine if you are really good on something but then you most probably also has a buffer when between assignments because of the good salary. But in most cases people like to be permanently employed. It is safer and you know what to do tomorrow, next week and next month as long as you do your work, behaves and the company works ok.

Comment to Ken Hess ZDnet post 'Consumerization: The New Colossus'

3rd of January Ken Hess (@kenhess) published a post named 'Consumerization: The New Colossus' on ZDNet. Worth reading, also the comments. Added this comment to the post today:

I do agree with @aep528 in some cases. Also agree with many of the other comments, concerns and hurrahs. On my blog I'm writing a 3 step story about BYOD where I've published step 1 and 2. I'm really not so in to BYO, I really can't see the point and it will cause an administrative mess. Though my biggest concern is, which my step 3 will be about; when the possibility becomes a demand.

The demand might be a consequence of @aep528's company benefits. What will happen when companies demand you to BYO? I think as Ken say independent contractors will increase and as a dramatic consequence a personal "gold" service agreement attached to your device might be the key to keep your employment or not. And I think this will be a bigger problem than we might think. Why? There are a lot of employers who always try to use laws and systems at a maximum and with a mind set of “is there a possibility – use it”. In Sweden, where I live, there are rigorous rules of how and when you can fire somebody but firing will be easier if having independent contractors. And this will cause disorder in the society. No, I don’t mean BYOD will turn all things upside down but it will make people upset.

Also consider there are a lot of groups who never will afford bring their own. As I say in my part 2 I think BYOD is a possibility for “the cool guys”.

The future employers have to be attractive to attract good people. One way is to allow BYO. But if I was a good prospect to employee I would say “please give me the device” instead of asking “can I bring my own?"

2012. How about my predictions?!

On Sunday morning 2012 hits us. A lot of lists and posts prevail about predictions in and about IT, cloud, Internet and more. I will give you some of my thoughts. They are based on my experience, things I read and hear off. The text itself is based on my trend notes written in TeleComputing’s Q4 newsletter and is now translated and in some places modified. I’m focusing more on some short basic to think about’s and reminders more than specifics like cloud, Big Data, Eco systems, BYO or social networking. Mine last longer than 2012 and point especially to service providers and the C-series.

A lot of things happening on the IT-market; what’s present, will increase and evolve in the future? Service provider’s needs to better listen and understand its customers core business and the C-series needs to better understand IT and how it can support the companies’ core business. We all have to be better prepared and plan for the future in time.

It’s very important that techniques to deliver IT as a service is secure, reliable and available because the service should be ditto. It also has to be modular, scalable and flexible to be able to support services from different ISV and sources, also through different techniques to different type of devices because of the consumerization trend BYO (Bring Your Own). Though; techniques are ”secondary”, don’t misunderstand me. Techniques are very important for the IT-department, the service provider (Cloud or not). To the customer it is the support to core business, functionality and availability that is important. This creates demand on the actors on the service provider market and IT departments; simple, functional and reasonable invoicing processes have to exist, and most important; the soft services like Service Desk, change management, perceptiveness, coordination and governance have to be excellent. The Orchestrator role is so important. It’s in these areas the settlement of being an actor on the service providing market or not.

Bullets;

The actor is either a service provider or an IT manager/-department. As a CxO; use it like a check list.

• The actor must be able to describe how a service brings benefits for the customer and how it kills the customers’ pains. Customer: “What’s in it for us?”
• The actor must be able to describe and motivate why underlying old techniques need to be upgraded or replaced to meet the future.
• The CIO role is more business- than technique oriented. The technique is the actors pleasant ”concern”, and it should be transformed to the CIO as business.
• The actor should be the customers’ market listener and whisperer. The actor should be a part of and contribute to increase the customers’ efficiency and productivity.
• CxO, not only CIO; you have to understand what IT can do for your business. You have to understand; availability and service hours are not for free.
• The actor should support the customer to be an attractive employer. People, especially young people, now a days looks of what the employer can do for them to succeed. Without good employees you as an employer won’t succeed in the future. Providing an attractive IT environment and policy is an important ingredient to attract the best.
• The actor should be the trusted adviser. Some might say it’s a buzz word but partnership between the customer and the actor is a very important key to successful IT as a Service. But never forget, it happens to often and the service provider wakes up with a horse head in the bed; it really takes two to tango!
• Standard becomes customized, customized becomes standard.
  My prediction is that standard services will increase and customized decrease. Because of economic and integration reasons this change will come, it is too expensive and complex to customize. Companies will customize their organization to the service opposite to the reverse, it’s a change but it has to be done. At the same time the standardized services become more customizable with standardized interface to integrate two or more systems /services.

This is my last post 2011 and I will be back 2012.

May your service provider be good to you next year too.

 

Happy New Year!

Trendspan (in Swedish)

Min artikel om trender som publicerades i TeleComputing News nr 4 2011. Några ankor och flowproblem märkte jag vilka jag ber djupt djupt om ursäkt för. ;)

Vad som är på gång

I takt med att marknaden för IT-tjänster och outsourcing av IT-funktioner förändras så förändras även kraven på aktörerna inom outsourcing. Sedan en längre tid tillbaka har förändringen skett från att tillhandahålla co-location och sourcingtjänster till att tillhandahålla managerade tjänster - sourcing providern har blivit en managed service provider (MSP). I denna artikel ska jag lista och försöka beskriva de trender det talas om mest på marknaden.

Generellt finns det som vanligt en tendens att det är många nya benämningar på saker som egentligen funnits sen en tid tillbaka. Det som är tydligt är att gränserna är rätt suddiga och man kan alltid peka på att ingen har fel och alla har rätt.

 

Moln, SaaS online

Sedan ett par år har online- och molntjänster samt SaaS, med alla dess underkategorier, starkt avancerat på marknaden och det finns idag inget som säger att det kommer att avta. Vissa tjänster kommer exempelvis inte vara tillgängliga för lokal installationer utan endast vara tillgängliga i molnet som en SaaS. Internet är en utmärkt bärare för tjänster, varför skulle man inte nyttja den här tekniken? Däremot kommer hypen avta, det kommer bli en mer gängse standard och vissa cloudwashers/wishclouds kommer att försvinna. Det är helt enkelt många som söker lyckan. Något man inte ska glömma är att många system och funktioner kommer att behöva vara kvar lokalt hos företagen eller husera i privata moln hos MSP:s, allt kan inte flytta till molnet, hybriderna är ett faktum.

• Hybrider Tänk en hybridbil, mix av ex el och etanol. Hybrid IT är mix av moln (ex privata eller publika), system lokalt på företaget och tjänster från en MSP. Hybrider kommer bestå länge, kanske för alltid.
• On-demand Behoven på flexibla betalningsmodeller och att avropa tjänster vid behov (On-demand) har ökat för att tillfredsställa krav på kostnadseffektivitet. Det här är väl egentligen ingen ny trend men den fortsätter att öka i efterfrågan.
• IT Ecosystem Hett, men i grund och botten handlar det om att leverera produkter som tjänster och att produktleverantörerna (mjukvara) team:ar upp sig med solution providers, som ex TeleComputing, för att leverera produkten som en tjänst. Från ax till limpa och tillbaka till ax…få det att gå runt. Inte så knepigt som det låter flashigt.

 

Standard blir anpassat, anpassat blir standard

Jag uppfattar, eller kanske snarare förutspår, att det finns en tendens att standardiserade tjänster ökar och att kundanpassade avtar. Alltså det unika avtar medan det ”fyrkantiga” blir mer anpassningsbart. Av ekonomiska och integrationsmässiga skäl sker denna svängning, det är för dyrt och komplext att specialanpassa. Man behöver anpassa organisationen mot tjänsten istället för tvärtom, det är en omställning men den behöver göras. Samtidigt så blir de standardiserade tjänsterna mer anpassningsbara med tydliga gränssnitt för att integrera två eller flera system.

Virtuella klienter

Sist men inte minst vill jag slå ett slag för virtuella klienter. Och nej, det är absolut inte för att jag arbetar på TeleComputing. Virtuella klienter har ett oförtjänt dåligt rykte, ett rykte som inte på något sätt är aktuellt på marknaden idag, kort sagt ingen pratar om de dåliga ryktena för de finns inte. Ryktena baserar sig på användande av gamla versioner med gammal funktionalitet, dåliga installationer och konfigurationer, dåliga kommunikationslänkar mm. Kommunikationslänkar är inte längre ett problem, bandbredd finns både i marken och i luften och det till mycket rimliga priser. I o m molntrenden så är det naturligt att även köra virtuella klienter över internet. Citrix, VMware, Microsoft och andra leverantörers produkter som finns idag är inte samma sak som det som fanns 2005. Installationer och konfigurationer går att göra rätt. Virtuella klienter är hett och kommer att öka. Det finns egentligen ingen anledning att tro något annat – det fungerar riktigt bra! Sen; vare sig man gillar BYOD så är virtuella klienter, enligt mig, i princip ett måste. Kom förbi och testa nya OnDemand om jag inte lyckats övertyga.

Det här är bara några av sakerna som rör sig på marknaden. Det pratas mycket om moln men det gäller att koka ner vad som är viktigt för just ditt företag. Det är det ex TeleComputing ska vara ett stöd i, en rådgivare och partner.

Ökade krav på outsourcingleverantören

Alla saker som händer på marknaden, vad som är aktuellt nu och kommer att öka i framtiden ställer som tidigare nämnts krav på aktörerna. MSP:n behöver bättre förstå behoven företagets core business ställer och hur de tillfredsställs rätt och effektivt.

Tekniken för att leverera IT som tjänst är oerhört viktig att den är säker och stabil. Den behöver även vara modulär och flexibel för att kunna hantera tjänster från olika leverantörer och källor samt genom olika tekniker men även till olika typer av enheter i och med consumerization-trenden BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Tekniken är dock ”sekundär”, missförstå mig rätt. Tekniken är oerhört viktig för IT-avdelningen, MSP:n och molnleverantören. För företaget är det funktionen och tillgängligheten som är det viktiga. Detta ställer krav på aktörerna att ha bra enkla och förnuftiga fakturerings- och beställningsfunktioner samt framför allt de mjuka tjänsterna såsom Service Desk, ändringshantering, samordning och samverkan. Det är inom dessa områden avgöranden kommer att stå om att fortsätta att vara en aktör på outsourcingmarkanden eller ej. Kortfattat;

• Aktören måste kunna beskriva hur en tjänst bringar nytta och ”killing pains” för kunden. K: ” What’s in it for us?”
• Aktören måste kunna beskriva och motivera varför en bakomliggande föråldrad teknik är nödvändig att uppgradera för att möta framtiden bäst.
• CIO:n på företagen går mot att vara mer affärs- än teknikinriktad. Tekniken är aktörens angenäma ”bekymmer”, och den ska förvandlas i business för CIO:n.
• Aktören ska vara företagets öra mot marknaden samt vara en del i och bidra till företagets ökade effektivitet och produktivitet.
• Aktören ska hjälpa kunden att vara en attraktiv arbetsgivare. Människor, och framför allt unga människor, ser mycket på vad företagen kan göra för dem. En attraktiv IT-miljö är en viktig del av den.
• Aktören ska vara den betrodda rådgivaren. Partnerskap mellan företaget och aktören är absolut avgörande för en lyckad IT as a Service. Glöm inte; it takes two to tango.

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!

Next week

Looking forward to attend to the Swedish TUG next week (30th Nov to 1st Dec) at Djurönäset conference. Always feels like a sheep in wolf's clothing when cruising with the tech guys. ;)

http://www.tugsweden.se/

Key notes by Citrix, VMware and Microsoft.

Always nice and I will send a lot of posts and even more tweets; hopefully with a deep deep underlying virtual touch!

#CloudWisdom 10

Virtualization will continue to emerge and will be the key to UI cloud services.

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’

Working on the BYOD post

Currently I’m working on the BYOD post. It takes more time than I expected but I hope it will be worth reading.

The article will be 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. Third and last part will be about when the possibility becomes a demand.