Chapter 4: Should You Use Your iPhone for Work?

    
   1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the following employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

    Advantages

•     All companies will receive benefits of a mobile workforce, even though they not     spend their money for it
•     Avoid companies from wasting money for unnecessary devices and mobile initiatives.
•     Every employees will be feel comfortable because they using their own device.
•     Employees will feel easier because they don’t have burden to carry and manage multiple devices.

Disadvantages

• The data of a company which is private and confidential will be leak out to public. This is legal and liability risk for that company.
• Companies lose their consistency and efficiency when they have their own hardware, and control their data and scale their own It infrastructure.
• Employees have to spend their own pocket money for buy the devices needed by their company
• In a company every employees using different kind of devices. So the operating systems available, providing adequate technical support for every employees will be difficult.

2. What people, organization and technology factors should be addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

People

• Many companies are integrating these “mobility experts” into core IT functions and software development. Mobility experts can help a company leverage mobility more effectively.
• Identify or analyse that employees have ability to own their devices.
• Make sure that employees agree to safe the company’s confidential information

Organization

• Limit business smartphone use to a single platform.

This made it easier to keep track to each mobile device and to roll out software upgrades or fixes, because all employees were using the same devices, or at the very least, the same operating system. For example, BlackBerry mobile devices access corporate e-mail and data using a proprietary software and networking platform that is company–controlled and protected from outsiders.

• More than one type of mobile device and operating system

Firm need an efficient inventory management system that keeps track of which devices employees are using, where the device is located, whether it is being used, and what software it is equipped with.

Technology

• A number of software products such as Sybase Afaria, Trellia, Microsoft System Center Device Manager and Odyssey Software Athena have emerged to help companies manage diverse mobile platforms.
• Virtualization is an approach to mobile device management. Companies can install software such as Citrix Systems XenDesktop that runs Windows desktops and individual applications on any device, regardless of operating system.

3. Allowing employees to use their own smartphones for work will save the company money. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Yes, I agree.

• The company does not have to prepare administer devices like laptop, Pc and mobile phones.
• Avoid significant hardware, software IP supports costs.
• Save cost of paper and printer ink.
• Employees to do their business or communicate with customer in a convenience way.
• Employees will feel more happier if they using their own devices. Because of the heavy responsibility towards company asset like laptop is no more. They will use their devices freely and without any feeling of afraid to top management. It will help to increase company productivity.
• Companies does not have to pay for computers that break or go out of date every several years.
• Company does not have to pay for maintenance and insurance plans or antivirus software or deal with driver or software updates.