You cannot rely on BYOD to ride the WLAN wave

A product group manager's view on security and wireless in a BYOD world, by Jon Martin

Analysts have said that enterprise WLAN sales are on the rise. If this is the case, why are UK resellers not jumping on the WLAN bandwagon? This is not limited to the big players and cannot be attributed to the BYOD trend alone.

While the desire to use newly acquired personal devices in the workplace has forced enterprises to review their wireless infrastructure, the opportunities for resellers go beyond the corporate world. Quick wins are out there, with many organisations looking to improve their user experience and productivity.

For example, students now expect colleges and universities to provide Wi-Fi access for both personal and academic use.

Other sectors that can bring quick WLAN wins to the channel include retail, warehousing, professional services and hospitality. Demand for Wi-Fi in these sectors is not only a potential entry point for resellers, it can also lay the foundations for long-term relationships with customers.

For organisations that rely on hot-desking freelancers or large teams of subcontractors, being able to provide totally secure access to a Wi-Fi network not only improves their contractors' effectiveness, it also gives the enterprise peace of mind that its corporate network is not at risk from visiting users.

From what I have seen when it comes to recent sales and reseller experiences, BYOD and the use of new mobile devices in the workplace are certainly not the only drivers of WLAN growth. In fact, the recent increase in demand is more about how wireless access creates new opportunities for businesses to boost productivity as well as their customer or employee experience.

Such benefits can obviously help the business become more competitive and, ultimately, more successful.

As consumers and business users expect to access the internet any time and anywhere, so businesses have the chance to deliver added value to their customers and create new revenue streams for themselves.

For resellers, being able to deliver secure and resilient Wi-Fi solutions quickly and easily not only meets clients' short-term needs, it can create exciting new opportunities for IT solution sales.

Jon Martin is product group manager at Computerlinks