Mobile Enablement

Mobile enablement is an important part of any enterprise IT strategy. Years ago the picture was black and white: there were “workstation anchored employees” that sat in offices and used wired devices (phones, computers) to do their job and there were “mobile employees” that were on the road most of the time (field sales and marketing would fit into this category) and relied on mobile phones to stay in touch. Over the years, many additional types of mobile behavior emerged. There is the “neighborhood collaborator” type that moves around the office and collaborates with peers. The trend towards open office environments definitely encourages this type of mobility. 

The “campus mobile” type applies to larger companies where employees have to move across buildings to collaborate. As virtual meeting tools become more powerful, I am seeing a trend towards joining the virtual meeting instead of walking to the physical one, especially with large campus sizes, where it takes 15-20 minutes to walk to the meeting location. And then there are “remote employees” that rely on a strong Internet connection and a mobile phone or a soft client on their laptop to stay in touch.

Enabling mobility in the enterprise is a continuous competition between the IT organization and mobile service providers. IT organizations have invested heavily in Wi-Fi and embarked on “cut the wire” initiatives. Over time, the assumption that Wi-Fi is inherently insecure was replaced by the really that Wi-Fi (combined with use of digital certificates) is far more secure than wired ports in the lobby of the building. This reflects a new approach to enterprise network security focused on threat management and not just blocking access.  

Mobile service provides are getting increasingly competitive in the area of enterprise mobility as they moved from 3G to 4G / LTE. They now specifically target enterprises with higher access point density to cover campuses and large corporate events, such as annual conferences. In addition, they offer access points that can be installed inside buildings to close any remaining coverage gaps. Most recently, mobile providers are betting on 5G networks as an alternative to Wi-Fi.