Tag: Smartphones

The Smartphone and the Tablet: Catalysts of Change in Mobile Customer Care

by Ken Landoline, posted in Mobilize

K. Landoline

Summary Bullets:

  • Today, there are more mobile phones in service in the U.S. than there are people. ?It is estimated that 40% of these phones are smartphones, and this percentage will likely double in the next four to five years.
  • Smartphones and tablets offer a broad range of functionality that will improve the mobile customer service offerings of enterprise contact centers. ?To date, contact center application providers have only scratched the surface of the many possibilities.

In my December 22, 2011 blog entry, “Step Two in Mobilizing Your Contact Center: Create a Continuous and Seamless Customer Experience,” I discussed the importance of providing a smooth transition from self-service to live agent assistance on the mobile phone. ?Since that blog was published, no fewer than four contact center software providers (Genesys, Interactive Intelligence, NICE Systems, and Virtual Hold Technology) have announced or introduced such functionality to take advantage of the advanced capabilities available on increasingly ubiquitous smartphones and tablets. ?While this is very encouraging, I see it only as an initial step in capitalizing on the capabilities of these devices. Continue reading “The Smartphone and the Tablet: Catalysts of Change in Mobile Customer Care” →

Endpoint Security in 2012

by Andrew Braunberg, posted in Secure
A. Braunberg

Summary Bullets:

  • Post-PC era is not PC-less
  • Where policy for mobile devices is managed is a critical question.

To say we are moving into a post-PC era does not imply that the PC is going away, only that much of the energy in the computing markets is moving to newer, more nimble devices. PC shipments in 2011 were down about 4% year over year. This is attributed mostly to the rise of interest in tablets and smartphones, which can both assume some of the tasks traditionally performed by PCs. This is an important point to emphasize when thinking about the endpoint security markets. Firstly, there will be a strong market for PC client security products for years to come. And because of this, traditional endpoint security vendors believe they have potent leverage when moving into the markets for securing tablets and smartphones: namely, that enterprise customers want to consolidate and integrate endpoint security policy across all end user devices. (Everybody better start thinking more holistically about identity management by the way. But that is a discussion for another post). Continue reading “Endpoint Security in 2012” →

Extending Corporate Video Conferencing to Mobile Devices

by Brian Riggs, posted in Mobilize
Brian Riggs - Research Director, Enterprise Software and Communications

Summary Bullets:

  • Mobility to be the next big product trend for enterprise video conferencing technology
  • There are a number of ways to extend corporate video conferencing solutions to mobile devices

The increasing adoption of video conferencing systems in the enterprise combined with the increasing adoption of video-capable mobile devices is set to both challschmale and annoy IT departments. One of the problems is that the software and systems that deliver business-class video conferencing (from Cisco, IBM LifeSize, Magor, Microsoft, Polycom, Vidyo etc.) are completely different from the software that runs on the mobile devices wheedling their way into the enterprise as part of the BYOD phenomenon (from Apple, Google, Fuze, Skype, Tango, etc.). It’s unlikely that the two will learn to coexist peacefully anytime soon. Enterprise IT departments will continue to deploy on-premise or cloud-based video conferencing solutions that meet security and compliance requirements. And end users will separately use separate consumer-friendly video conferencing technology on their mobile devices with or without IT’s formal blessing. Continue reading “Extending Corporate Video Conferencing to Mobile Devices” →

Addressing the Adoption of Tablets and Smartphones in the Enterprise

by Andrew Braunberg, posted in Mobilize
A. Braunberg

Summary Bullets:

  • At a high level, U.S. businesses are taking similar strategic approaches to the introduction of both tablets and smartphones into the enterprise.
  • Not surprisingly, the majority of survey respondents want to buy these devices and manage them.

Current Analysis recently completed a survey of enterprises in the U.S. to determine strategic direction for the adoption of tablets and smartphones in enterprise networks. While it is often assumed that enterprises will approach the adoption of tablets and smartphones differently (with tablets treated as simple laptop replacements), our research suggests this is not the case. Continue reading “Addressing the Adoption of Tablets and Smartphones in the Enterprise” →

Are Managed Services a Viable Answer to Mobile Device Mania in the Enterprise?

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Huge rise in mobile device usage in the enterprise is kick-starting use of telecom expense management (TEM), mobile device management (MDM) and mobile security
  • Current Analysis research shows that most enterprises ruhig patch together solutions from third-party vendors; trust in managed services will take more time

In a recent Current Analysis survey of approximately 600 businesses in the U.S. and Europe, 82% of respondents noted that employee-owned mobile devices are accessing data residing on corporate networks or servers; however, only 60% of the companies explicitly allow this practice. Further, 73% of these businesses are planning to buy tablets for their employees, adding to the smartphone types and OSs already in the mix. Clearly the environment for managing costs, reining in the usage and application types accessed by employees, and centralizing device management and security is becoming very complex.

Continue reading “Are Managed Services a Viable Answer to Mobile Device Mania in the Enterprise?” →