Influential analyst firm Forrester Research deemed the iPhone unfit for corporate workplaces in late 2007. Lack of encryption for confidential data, lack of Microsoft Exchange support for calendars and email, and a lack of applications for the phone were tops on analyst Benjamin Gray's "Top 10" list of iPhone shortcomings as workplace IT gadgets. A stolen iPhone could be a major security breach, Gray warned.
Now, Forrester analyst Ted Schadler has issued a whole new take on the iPhone. Citing large-scale adoption at Oracle, Kraft Foods, and Amylin Pharmaceutical, Schadler deems the iPhone a boon to these companies' bottom lines.
Schadler's reasons for the switch:
- The iPhone now works with Microsoft Exchange.
- The Safari browser and iPhone mail application are comparable to netbooks in quality.
- iPhone 3.0 software due this summer will have better support for VPNs and workplace security, such as disabling the camera and creating encrypted backups.
- Employees often buy their own iPhone, rather than waiting for the IT department to issue one to them. Individual phone ownership lowers company costs. Plus, Schadler says, it makes employees more careful: "If an employee owns his own device, the phone tends to hit the pavement a lot less"
"We find the BlackBerry better for email and calendaring and the iPhone better for everything else," Schadler wrote. Because smartphone use is moving beyond email and schedules to Web access and productivity applications such as Taxi Magic, Schadler thinks the BlackBerry's advantages have become less important.
Perhaps most importantly, Schadler claims iPhone buyers who don't use a company-issued handset simply seem to be happier.
Comments
It's a little ridiculous to count something that hasn't happened yet (ie the iPhone 3.0's security update), but on all other counts I must agree. The iPhone was also, I believe, the first pda to offer Extended Validation SSL-encrypted browsing, which has recently become a practically essential web safegaurd, and with the anti-phishing features it's particularly important for corporate iPhone users (don't want any sensitive material hacked).
However, as an app provider hasn't the blackberry led the pack until recently? Yeah, the app store is lackluster, but for example the software you mention above, Taxi Magic (a frequent click for me), only recently became full service on the iPhone (only the blackberry application had the pay-for-taxi capability). Seems like a lot of apps have had more functional debuts on the bb, but that too will likely change.
In other news - Forrester predicts what already happened 6-12 months ago.
Nearly all of the statements made were the original arguments for why iPhones were going to penetrate the workplace regardless of whether IT or management thought they should. Because users want them, they have them, and you can be sure they're going to find some way to get them to work.
Users/Apple:
Infiltrate, embrace, extend, repeat.
Management/Forrester:
Ignore, ignore, ignore, jump on bandwagon - declare it your bandwagon.
I used to be an information security professional, and covered security as an analyst. The control that business believe they have over information flow is not anywhere near the reality... not unless they are VERY, VERY skilled at laying the proper architecture, training, processes, etc..
What's funny is the way Forrester is positioning this as some sort of objective device analysis. It's not. The iPhone didn't suddenly become a corporate-worthy device. The only statistic that matters is user adoption. It could be the most capable device in the world, but if users didn't care about it and were continuing to prefer BlackBerrys, Windows Mobile devices, or Symbian devices, (even Android devices?), IT wouldn't care about supporting it. But, that's not the case: the iPhone is wildly popular.
This is an example of the consumerisation of IT that Gartner and other analysts have talked about. People are starting to demand a consistent user experience between personal and corporate work environments. If users can check their personal email on the iPhone, why can't they check their corporate email on it? IT will have a hard time justifying a lack of support when senior-level executives can be counted among the iPhone's users.
So what of the additional security and corporate-worthy features? That's just the ends justifying the ends; or more accurately, the means catching up to the ends. People will continue buying iPhones regardless of whether IT supports them or not. The additional functionality doesn't make or break iPhone adoption; it just makes it more palatable from an IT perspective. IT can either adapt or resist. Shops that adapt will look for the positives, such as the reduced spending on LVA (low-value assets) that comes with allowing people to use their personal devices. Shops that resist are facing an uphill battle as well as a pejorative perception of IT among their user base.
Brad: Excellent assessment, but one thing I would add is the iPhone has a special advantage over other widely used phones that executives have bought on their own dime over the years: The iPhone does email. Not well, but well enough that executives can justify getting support from their IT departments. I remember when the iPhone first came, some early adopters rushed to set up their corporate email to forward to gmail accounts which surely sent a shiver of fear through many security-minded IT folks and legal departments. It's situations like that which force IT's hand -- taking responsibility for personal devices is not just a way to help out employees or tamp down dissent, it's a necessity.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
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