We can all agree, working in IT has its challenges. A friend
recently asked me "What has been the most significant challenges in IT
recently?"
To that I say "how much time do you have?"
Over the years we have seen many technology innovations. Some have been business focused while others
have been consumer focused. Business focused
innovations improved network performance and reliability, application
intelligence, business efficiencies, and security. Consumer innovations have
focused on features, functionality, and ease of use. Often, consumer
innovations have created headaches for the IT department.
I remember, back in the day, installing VPN servers when
dial-up modems were the norm. Who would use a VPN when they could just dial in?
A short time later, broadband Internet connections exploded, end user signed up
like mad, and nobody wanted to access corporate resources through a dial-up
modem any more. We struggled to install VPN servers with enough capacity.
Then wireless Ethernet appeared. Business users could
connect their company provided laptops to their home wireless networks, but
still had to plug-in at work. Why did they have to plug-in at work? “Can’t the IT department implement wireless
as easy as at home?”
So we struggled to install standalone wireless access
points. They were cumbersome, then we figured out centrally managed wireless
networks were much more efficient.
Today many organizations have deployed remote-access VPNs and
centrally managed wireless networks. Business users, from home, hotel rooms, conference
rooms, airports, Starbucks, or other locations, can securely connect to the
corporate network. In the physical office, business users can connect with
wired or wireless connections and easily access the same systems. We even can
support “Guest” wireless connections
We could finally rest, IT finally caught up to the users. But, like Steve Jobs
likes to say, “but there’s more”. ...Great!@$%
Now we have business users bringing in other devices not
provided by the IT department. I have a customer who has a XBOX in a conference
requiring wireless Internet access.
It is now a reality; IT Departments now have to support
Smartphones. Business users expect “always on” connectivity. Users expect to not only have continuous
access regardless of their platform.
Not only does the IT department have to pay for the Data
plans, they now have to support the wireless Ethernet connectivity
requirements. It would be easy to not support wireless Ethernet connectivity,
but the cost of cellular data usage has to be considered. It is now financially
prudent to allow Smartphones onto the business network.
Now, do we want the smartphones on the “Guest” wireless
network, or the “internal”. Both have their advantages. “Guest” lets the user
connect like they are at home but they may have to sign in to a “Guest” splash
screen. An “internal” wireless
connection may open up the network to security hazards.
And then someone in management had to go and get a tablet. It could be an iPad
or an Android device, it doesn’t matter. The IT department didn’t buy it, but
it needs to connect to the network. When
the connection doesn’t work, we hear “what do you mean ‘no more IP addresses
are available’”, “when I’m in my office, Angry Birds is slow”.
In my next installment; Unified Communications – home user
features vs. business users’ functionalit
Home