I had the opportunity to visit ITxpo last week and participate in a panel discussing Bring your Own Device (BYOD) best practices and why consumerization is taking over IT.  However, as I prepared for the discussion and talked with the audience, it became increasingly clear that the mobile enterprise is at a crossroads; the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, once driven solely by consumers, is now being fed by Networking, IT, Mobility, Security and Carrier interests. 

BYOD came up continuously during the panel presentation from carrier, vendor and user points of view.  For example, a large Microsoft security consulting firm in the audience asked about locking down corporate email on an iPhone after the user left the firm.   Sure, that’s easily accomplished by different IT groups using mobile device management (MDM) with hooks to existing network infrastructure (e.g., LDAP), service settings (e.g., Exchange) and security configurations (e.g., access control lists).   But how can these apps, services, configurations and infrastructure be managed together in the mobile world?

Another firm in the audience, a large multi-national chemical firm, was struggling with onboarding users bringing Android tablets, iPads and even increasingly legacy (and often free) BlackBerry devices into the firm.  It wasn’t just the traditional web and email usage though; the teams managing the increasingly mobile corporate process apps like Box, Salesforce.com and Wiki-internal resources were worried.  The data from these apps was literally walking out the door if the user were to leave with their device – a daunting potential intellectual property nightmare.

Users attending also spoke up about how they require BYOD users to sign a waiver noting the usage permissions of the device, apps and remote wipe if/when they leave the firm.  Others in the audience agreed this was a promising stance and pointed out this is the direction MDM software is heading.  The IT and networking/security team at the chemical firm pointed out how their roles are changing to meet the needs of an always-on mobile workforce.  We’ve heard similar comments from among our growing 1,500+ enterprise and carrier customers, describing how an entirely new set of IT, Networking, Carrier Management, Application and security skills are required.  This changing role is being called “Mobile IT.” A fellow panelist at ITxpo correctly noted how carriers virtually own the enterprise IT role, since their cloud-connected “computers” (i.e., smartphones and tablets) comprise almost all BYOD. 

Good point, but what happens when devices are disconnected from the carrier and literally left up in the air?   One corporation, a large airline brand, learned about mobility challenges the hard way with an unfortunate lock out of their devices at 30,000 feet on New Year’s Eve.  Why?  Turns out “Brand A” MDM software vendor wrongly delivered a subscription or monthly service not set for auto renewal, causing device lockouts.  The clock struck midnight and 7,500 devices – and the hundreds of apps they were running, including scheduling and expense management – literally stopped in their tracks.   Neither traditional IT, networking nor security is prepared for today’s Mobile IT requirements.  The airline is now evaluating a new MDM software supplier after their forced three-day grounding from accessing their mobile device.

Welcome to the new world of Mobile IT, definitely not the same OK Corral as in years past.