A tech marketer's BYOD confession
What do end users really need when it comes to BYOD? Steve Hook evaluates the situation
A techie at heart, the truth is I'm also a marketer (there, I've said it). But even for me, the hype cycle around BYOD has reached new heights. And at recent meetings and events the acronym BYOD has been extended to mean bring your own dilemma, disaster, data or drama.
If this buzzword bingo is confusing and frustrating to us old IT bods in the channel, how do you think the end users, trying to make an effective and strategic decision, feel? To get it right and provide technology solutions and services for the long term, we need to put ourselves in end user shoes.
The truth is that (just like in the playground), "they started it". BYOD is not a single technology problem in need of a solution; it is a user-driven phenomenon. BYOD is a cultural shift in the way people work; IT is simply the supporting role.
However, the buck still stops with IT. It is down to the IT manager to work out who, where and how the end user can or cannot use his or her own device on the corporate network.
And, in my view, companies can no longer delay key decisions on BYOD corporate policy amid concerns their infrastructure won't cope, is not flexible enough, or ultimately would be a nightmare to enable.
Channel players that can figure out what the IT-driven answers are to support user enablement will be those that succeed. Anyone claiming a silver bullet for what is inherently a problem with multiple facets is unlikely to prosper.
The quip about bringing your own data (via a consumer device in the workplace) at least raises the point.
Add the policy, the data security, network, infrastructure, culture, cloud, apps, ownership, the management and the user behaviour to this phenomenon, and you have a kind of domino effect. Each element affects another. So can the channel talk to the full ecosystem?
Focusing on one area alone without being able to talk to the pain points in the full stack simply will not work. There is opportunity, in abundance, if the channel looks at the bigger picture, however.
We must understand that every IT decision affects another – from implementing iPads to managing networks and capacity, security, individual policies and self-service portals.
Regardless of the device brought in, IT departments need to deliver an on-demand network service that wraps around the specific requirements of that individual, at that time, for the access required.
The network, security, profile and management should be adapted to each situation. To do this, network managers need to know a few things: device type, user profile and status, and what access is actually needed. Applying this knowledge to network management should enable a visitor, a VIP guest, a chief executive or a departmental employee to get what he or she needs, when he or she needs it, securely.
We know by now that WLAN is becoming the primary access layer for employees' network connectivity. However, some aspects of the BYOD phenomenon when it comes to the network have been overlooked. It isn't just connecting the users with devices to the network, but providing the capacity they need to be productive, and managing them once they are there.
Having a way to permit the use of applications and securely connect and monitor managed and unmanaged devices should be one of the very first requirements for a network administrator evaluating a solution today.
If you listen to the hype, BYOD could be the application that will kill your end user networks, but if you choose to embrace it as an opportunity to enable users across the enterprise mobility eco-system, tangible margin and value-adding partnerships can be created.
Steve Hook is senior international product marketing manager at Aerohive Networks