Which segment are you?

We've started to distill out the key questions we need to ask to identify who can benefit most from Freedom of Choice. Aside from all the technical prerequisites regarding applications, we've identified 3 key dimensions. They are.....

1. IT Skill - how capable is a user to support themselves. Will they be their own worse enemy? or do they have sufficient skills that they can make and perform basic IT decisions themselves.

2. Role Risk - does the users role within the business support freedom of choice. In 'standard' risk speak - how would they be assessed on Confidentiality, Integrity and availability perspective. e.g. Someone handling customer support issues probably represents more risk than a typical knowledge worker - thereby the IT 'freedom' they are granted may need to be a reflection of that risk.

3. Appetite - Will the users be inherently motivated and happy with the idea that they can make more IT decisions themselves.

Our hypothesis, is that if you find the 'right audience' which is sufficiently motivated, represents an acceptable levels of risk to the business and is sufficiently skilled, the experience of Freedom of Choice will be deeply satisfying.

If you want to know if you're such a person we've put together 15 simple questions which you can find here. It takes 5 mins to complete, and we'll email you the results as soon as we've had a chance to perform the analysis.

Sarah Palin & Consumerisation

On 17 September 2008, hackers posted messages on the Web from the Yahoo e-mail account of Governor Sarah Palin. They did it by guessing the answer to the password reset question she'd set - An answer she had conveniently shared with reporters in an interview she'd done earlier in the year.

The incident highlights the need for a proactive approach to managing consumer services, education/awareness and clear understandable policy. In Palin's case, there was a policy, but as this incident demonstrates, users often ignore / are misinformed about the policy.

The case also highlights the need to understand and assess the risk profile of the individual - what's at stake in the worst case scenario. In Governor Palins case, if a risk assessment had been done it would have become rapidly apparent that any services she utilizes, paper based or electronic are / will be at high risk. 

Fortunately, we're not running election campaigns - but we do have to do our utmost to fulfill our 'corporate responsibilities' and protect our corporate brand asset. That's where workforce segmentation plays an essential part (more on this in a later blog).

1TB Online, Free on the cloud.

There are plenty of online storage companies pedaling offering disk space online, but this is the first claiming 1TeraBytes (1000 Gigabytes) for a lifetime of spam? free.

So why is it important? Because Oosah is challenging the conventional economics of storage. It does have its limitations: file sizes are limited to 200MB per video and 9MB per audio file and like everything on the net you don't actually know where your files are so if you do try it, exercise the usual cautions and please feedback.

26.09.08 Update: If you do use the service, be aware the default setting for uploaded content is set to be publicly viewable. So make sure you uncheck the 'public' box to keep it private.

Is Chrome Googles new Gold?

We said in our first consumerisation webcast back at the end of 2007 that the war was in in the browser space. Today that belief was reaffirmed as Google beta launched their first Internet / Application Browser - Google Chrome.

Chrome redesigns the browser from the ground up, and is aimed at creating a user experience which is more conducive to supporting the growing raft of Web Applications.

If you want to understand the technical features in detail you can check out this award winning cartoon. If you're interested in testing out the beta you can download it (at your own risk) here. Posts on your experiences please!

Consumerisation Webinar

Last week the CTO launched the first of a series of internal webinars aimed at breaking the norm of powerpoint monologues. The team brought in 3 experts from around the business - people who are working on the front line of Consumerisation , Dave Burton (IT Lead for the 'One UK business' initiative), Mike Elliot (CTO, Lead IT Architect Client) and Warren Burns (Global Technology Risk Manager) their mission? To answer 3 'simple' questions...

1. What's the real business value of consumerisation?
2. Is this the end of the corporate desktop?
3. Can users really be trusted?

If you're interested in listening to the discussion, the Webinar was recorded and can be accessed for the next 90 days here.

Go Ahead, Use Facebook

Unilever is featured in the latest edition of BusinessWeek. The article features our very own Wendy Wilkes, and Chris Turner. You can find the article here.

Is the PC just another company car....?

Tired of your corporate laptop? What do you like / dislike about the existing managed service within your business? Are you sick of having two devices to keep track of your life - one for home, one for work? Would you sacrifice certain support benefits if it meant you could have more choice? CAN WE TRUST OUR USERS??

These are questions that as a consumerisation team we are very interested in....there are many benefits and risks in focus when you start considering what the world may look like if we let certain users in our business choose their own personal IT provision.

Does your PC really need to be treated that differently to company car? Should we let users have more say about what they want?

WHAT IS YOU VIEW??

Free laptop? (Got your attention didn't I?)

UK Telephone operator Orange has announced plans to bundle free laptops with data packages aimed at businesses and consumers. The move, scheduled for August, is the latest in a spate of 'free' laptop promotions from retailers and ISPs looking to tie customers into long-term subscriptions.

This latest offer requires customers to sign up for a 24-month mobile broadband contract in return for their 'free' notebook. Consumers signing up for the ISP's £25 per month mobile broadband service will receive an Asus Eee PC 900 16GB laptop with USB modem on Orange's Internet Everywhere tariff.

The deal includes a 3GB data allowance and 100 texts which users can send from their notebook. Business customers can choose from three HP laptops, with pricing depending on the monthly cost of the tariff. All three business price plans will be sold via Orange's direct telesales channel and come with unlimited data and 500 Wi-Fi minutes.

The entry level £35 per month tariff offers an HP 6730s Intel Celeron laptop and Orange USB dongle. Customers signing up to a £40 per month tariff will get an HP 6730s Intel Core 2 Duo in addition to the same Orange USB dongle. Business users opting for the top end £45 per month price plan will receive an HP 6730b Intel Core 2 Duo complete with an embedded Sim card.

There's no mention of a support package or warranty - but there's no doubt that this is competitive, and as ISP and mobile operators start to feel the heat consumers (and businesses) will benefit from these offers. If you think about the stack of services which are being offered here it's a very competitive and appealing prospect for many mobile workers.

Is Email the new Snail Mail?

In Korea email use has been on the decline since 2004, in the US email amoung teens and young adults is down 8%. The reason? Children are comparing email to instant messenger and calling it 'snail email'.

Over the past two years, email has been increasingly bypassed in favor of simpler forms of communication. According to Alex Iskold "The increasing speed of our lives and global connectivity reduces the need for lengthy emails. If we're in touch more often, then we reveal less every time we talk". Shorter, more frequent exchanges are replacing the lengthier communication of the past. "The rise of services such as Twitter and in-house company wikis or databases (such as BaseCamp) means that businesses are not only looking for easier, more accessible means of communication, but also are looking to embrace web 2.0 technology as a means to better position themselves to succeed in a rapidly changing business environment". Iskold admits that email isn't going anywhere soon, but insists that its "days of unquestioned dominance are over". I know personally Instant Messenger plays an important role in taming email, but it still feel like if this is going to happen it's going to be years before we see signficant shifts. What are your thoughts?

Security on a Stick

One of the big challenges of connecting non-managed or personal PCs to the corporate network is security - amongst other things the risk of either bringing something nasty into the network or perhaps worse leaving sensitive corporate intellectual property in the public domain.  It's been one of the primary reasons why remote access has been limited to company managed devices.

One of the more novel approaches to solving the problem - is 'security on a stick'. These diminutive USB sticks, look like conventional USB storage devices but they actually contain an entire mini-Linux PC which monitor (antiviral, anti malware etc) and manage the security of whatever they're connected to according (in line with the corporate policy which has been predefined when the stick is set up).

Picture the scenario - you're traveling and don't have your PC at hand - in today's model you'd either need a Corporate blackberry or you'd need to borrow a colleagues PC to log in to your mail remotely. With 'security on a stick' you can confidently plug the USB drive in any PC in the lobby of a hotel, airport lounge or internet cafe - the stick scans the machine for viruses, then if it's clear create a secure VPN tunnel so that you can login safely and securely. Over the next couple of weeks we'll be exploring the security on a stick in more depth - in the meantime if want to know more check out this link.