Moving Off Blackberry

It is becoming painfully obvious that Blackberry might not be the right platform for future mobile requirements. I’m not saying this just because RIM as a company is self-annihilating. Frankly, Blackberry doesn’t really have anything special that its competitors don’t offer. And there are new capabilities being announced almost weekly in the smartphone market that are truly surpassing what Blackberry can offer today. Who knows what the Blackberry 10 will deliver and Q1 2013 is their earliest date for introduction. Particularly if your company has a lot of Blackberries, the time is of the essence to understand what is in the market as a replacement. Although there will be some pain, the cost of moving your company onto a different platform may be small for the advantages it can give your company. You need a mobile strategy for the future and a proper plan if you decide to move off Blackberry.
For business, evaluate the Apple and Android platforms (and Windows 8 if you’re heavy into Microsoft). While you’re doing this, include tablets as well. You shouldn’t just be evaluating smartphones because tablets now offer incredible capabilities to help you when mobile. Apple has over 500,000 apps available for their iPhone and iPad and it’s the list of applications that makes Apple’s iOS platform so intriguing for business. The biggest driver of enterprise iOS use appears to be employees who work for companies with a “bring your own device” (BYOD) program. Apparently when offered the chance to choose which smartphone and tablet to bring to work, employees are choosing Apple’s iPad and iPhone 4S.

General Electric Co now says about one-third of the mobile devices it issues to employees are iPhones. Other big companies that have started to use a range of different devices include Amgen Inc., FedEx Corp, Caterpillar Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. One CIO recently summed it up nicely by saying "If RIM went away, was bought or went bankrupt what would we do? We could very easily transition to another provider," he said. If RIM’s demise were to happen overnight "we would be busy for a week or two provisioning phones, but it's not like it would put us in a serious world of hurt."

I would caution to say that the transition away from Blackberry is manageable, but you need a plan. When doing your evaluation, there are four key areas that you need to look at:
1. Discover what you have- types of devices, contract dates and cancellation fees. You need to understand what capabilities you currently have. You also need to be totally aware of the financial implication of moving to another platform.
2. Determine the back-office systems employees want to access- other than email, what are the main applications that your workers need when doing business.
3. Prioritize what your workers are asking for in doing business when mobile and determine how tablets can provide additional mobile support. This is your opportunity to really make an impact to your company’s performance with new mobile tools.
4. Formalize user types, set policies and control access. One option is to store enterprise data, including email and applications, in a distinct area of the device, and encrypting and password protecting only that data.

A big requirement is that IT requires proper tools (centralised provisioning tools) for smartphone and tablet devices to fit into the enterprise’s security policies and regulations. The solution for your organization will allow users to access the information they need and communicate with the people they need to talk to in an easy way. If done properly, including appropriate rules and security, your company will be in a position to save money, be responsive to your customers, retain employees by giving them the right tools to do their business and differentiate yourself from competitors. With the proper plan and execution, you can deliver significant new capabilities for the business.

This last point is extremely important. Don’t be fooled by the ‘high tech’ marketing of vendors who will try to sell the newest bells and whistles. Frankly, you’re not buying whistles. What you’re trying to do is have a proper mobile strategy to help you do business better when mobile. Spend the time to plan for the future as the rewards can have a profound impact on your operations. Having the right smartphone and tablet devices can be a key differentiator for you in the marketplace.