Managing personal devices in the workplace

Dual-purpose devices pose an answer to consumerisation in work communications, claims James Coulson

I have heard that requests from employees to use their own smartphones and tablets at and for work are becoming more common.

This will only increase, largely because no one wants to carry around more equipment than they need. Meanwhile, mobile devices such as tablets are reportedly becoming more affordable.

As with any visionary product, tablets will succeed if intended use and price point suits customers. And I believe that they can now be used as a legitimate and effective business tool.

However, integrating consumer-oriented devices and applications into the workplace puts increasing pressure on already stretched IT departments. This, I believe, is driving many organisations to create a secure, reliable and scalable infrastructure and re-evaluate their mobile strategies.

But changing internal infrastructures and strategies will just generate unnecessary cost. Instead, organisations should simply look harder for offerings that better suit them and their employees.

Often, new designs by vendors require users to change the way they work. I believe that VMware is set to launch software that allows two versions of Android to run on one device and Research in Motion has recently designed a service that separates work emails from the personal data stored on a BlackBerry.

Unfortunately, these offerings do not cater for the various operating systems used for work and social purposes.

The ideal scenario would be a single device that can run multiple operating systems at once. Such a device would mean users could distinguish between work and leisure uses quickly, easily and affordably, without compromising security, IT strategy or compliance.

The only thing shared would be data storage. Some devices do already allow for dual functionality, so companies don't need to bow to consumer trends. And they are not necessarily costly.

Some devices and tablets also offer dual-SIM capabilities, so IT departments can keep personal calls separate.

James Coulson is European marketing manager at Viewsonic