Jack SantosI keep getting interesting stories from folks about the “Find My iPhone” app, so I thought I would add mine, and maybe extrapolate what I think the moral of the story is for Enterprise “Bring Your Own Device” strategies, and Mobile Device Management (MDM).
Recently my wife and I were dining at a restaurant. We left, reached the car parked down the street, and realized she left her pocket book (with a fair amount of cash and an iPhone in it) back at the restaurant. I drove her back to retrieve it. As she was inside, I decided to use the “Where’s my iPhone” App to establish the phone’s location. Surprise! That little bouncing blue ball was NOT in the restaurant, but moving up the street about a block away! I called the cell number – no answer.
I rushed into the restaurant, pulled her out, jumped in the car, and gave pursuit. All this time we were furiously sending “Play Sound” messages, while she navigated us towards the moving blue ball. We catch up to it at a nearby intersection, double park, jump out of the car at opposite corners – hoping to hear the phone and grab the thief.
Surprisingly, the regularly spaced 10 second updates had suddenly started clocking up to 30 second, 1, 2, 3 minutes “last updated”. Someone turned the phone off. That sinking feeling of lost drivers license, credit cards, cash, and iPhone suddenly started setting in. What to do now?
After about 5 minutes, my phone rings – caller-id is her cell. “Did you lose a pocket book?”. “Yes we did – where are you?”. “ We’re parked in front of your house”. When we retrieved the pocket book – everything intact – the person who called explained how they found it on the street, picked it up, looked at the drivers license, and decided to go to the house to drop it off.
Yeah, maybe. What was clear was whoever took the pocket book from the restaurant didn’t have any intention of returning it. I suspect they were spooked by the eerie “where’s my iPhone” sound going on continuously from the phone – and either threw the pocket book down, or had a change of heart and called us.
What’s the BYOD lesson? Now imagine that the Modus Operandi in the event of a lost corporate phone is “call the help desk” – where centralized tracking and/or remote wipe could be initiated. Some thief would probably be much richer now.
By putting that power in the hands of the user the responsibility and authority for management of that device became the individual – not a monolithic corporation. Flexibility and speed of response was key – and delegating management of the device to individuals (not without some monitoring) is clearly where the world is going. Central command and control is over. Companies hire PEOPLE with an expectation of commitment and dedication. Enterprises are, in fact, no better than the trust and commitment that employees bring. Should there be checks and balances? Sure! Should employees be clear what their responsibility and authority is? Absolutely! Unfortunately that doesn’t stop some vendors – and companies- to think “lock down” and “manage centrally” – to the point where they negate any sense of commitment by an employee. Anything less than an increased emphasis on individual control and authority in the realm of managing personal devices is just a road to disenfranchisement.
That’s why BYOD will succeed, and Mobile Device Management will morph into something less control oriented.
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Category: IT Governance management Managment Mobility Wireless Tags: 3g, Cloud, consumerization, culture, management, mobility, UI, Wireless
