3G – Underwhelming or just overpromised?

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

If you overpromise, you invariably under deliver. That is almost certainly the lesson being learnt the hard way by 3G vendors faced with slumping sales of 3G dongles.

It’s easy to understand why there was so much excitement when mobile broadband hit the scene – Wi-Fi was not as widely available or reliable as it is today and dial-up was already perceived as a declining technology. The issue is that 3G was mis-sold as providing the equivalent to a home broadband connection which simply followed you round. Many years on and we are still not at a point where we have ubiquitous connectivity, so it seems utterly ridiculous that people bought into this vision for 3G when it became available.

Perhaps if 3G had been positioned correctly when launched we might not be seeing the current backlash, which in my opinion is not warranted. 3G was never going to be an end-game as far as connectivity was concerned – it was always destined to be part of the ‘mobility-mix’. Admittedly, more could have been done to improve coverage, but we probably shouldn’t be surprised that this hasn’t happened as quickly as we would have liked. And as far as performance goes I’m not sure anyone predicted the scale of the explosion in mobile broadband usage caused by the popularity of devices like the iPhone, or the bottlenecks in performance which would occur as a result.

From an enterprise mobility perspective 3G is still a valuable part of the puzzle – particularly now that prices have become more affordable. So will there be – as touted by Rob Bamforth of Quocirca in this article, “UK Falling Out of Love with Mobile Broadband,” – a ‘resurgent reliance on Wi-Fi’ in the enterprise? I think that any customers and partners that have grasped the reality of what enterprise mobility involves and requires are probably already at a point where they will have a mixture of complementary technologies in place. Look at the mobility offerings from the likes of our partner Azzurri Communications and you’ll see that they take a more balanced approach to getting enterprises connected.

It’s the enterprises that have taken a more blinkered view to mobile connectivity that are likely to be switching back to Wi-Fi, having found 3G wanting at times. My only concern for them is that they continue with an either / or policy and are quickly left wanting some of the benefits that 3G can offer over Wi-Fi or take a negative approach to future mobile broadband technologies based on their experiences. A balanced mobility strategy that leverages the best available bearer should include both technologies.

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iPad in the workplace – more screens, more productivity

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

As you saw, our Mobile Workforce Report came out yesterday and it generated a lot of the buzz from articles such as GigaOM’s “Connected Workers Going iPad for Productivity,” InfoWorlds “iPads Are About to Pour Into Your Business” and InfoTECH’s “iPads Becoming Increasingly Popular in the Corporate World.”

On Monday’s post, I discussed the proliferation of screens that you are using, business and personal.  These devices add up, in more ways than one. The buzz yesterday was about the addition of another device for worker connectivity and productivity. In digging into our survey data, I saw that:

An iPad is an “add-on” device. For those users that have an iPad, they are more likely to have a laptop AND smartphone/cellphone (one or the other).

Employees that pay their own bills are more likely to have or plan to buy an iPad. Perhaps they are more familiar with mobility costs and will justify the expense.

92 percent plan on using the iPad for some work, with 41 percent using it equally for work and personal.

As you add more devices, do you add more screen time? For most users, the answer is yes. If it’s the iPad or other tablet that you’ve added, then you have an overlapping, but not replacement, device. But remember, you have to pay for that bandwidth access and use.

With multiple devices, are you paying too much for bandwidth? But now multiply this complexity across an organization. As an IT Director, are you missing out on the ability to lock in lower contract prices for volume use? And can you easily determine how much you are actually paying for connectivity to all of these separate devices? What part of your costs can be considered personal use, and what should be billed back to the company? Does your company pay for all of the user’s connectivity, or do they pay out of pocket?

No doubt, it is an administrative nightmare for users and businesses alike to add up all of these separate costs and keep track of multiple, over-priced contracts. Clearly, the number of screens per user is increasing. And the likelihood of one device solving the needs of every user and application is nil. IT will need to accept and “embrace” this chaos and look for strategies that can control, automate, and make connecting more efficient and safe, leaving themselves more time for strategic projects.

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The Tragic Death of Technology-Free Time

Monday, August 23rd, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

After reading Harry McCracken’s Technologizer article “The Tragic Death of Practically Everything” and mulling over the data in today’s Mobile Workforce Report, I was inspired by the thought that we may be witnessing the death of technology-free time, or seeing it, at least, on life support. We’ve seen the headlines in the New York Times, “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price” this past June, and USA Today “Always on Technology: Are We Adapting or
Losing?” from August.

In our latest iPass Mobile Workforce Report, we found that the death of technology-free time is indeed the case. The majority of mobile employees never disconnect from technology, even during vacation. For the 46.4 percent of mobile employees that do, on occasion, disconnect, their reasons were mostly situational (e.g., in a location with poor connectivity).

“I try to disconnect, but I can never do it completely unless I’ve forgotten my electronics, which has only ever happened once,” analyst, research institute (Canada)

“Dec 2008, Hawaii cruise, personal choice and limited or no internet access,” vice president, customer experience, accounting firm (US)

Even while on vacation, a mere 5.9 percent of employees completely disconnected, and 36.3 percent said that they were always connected. The majority of mobile employees who connected while on vacation did so for work.

The death of technology-free time has led to the birth of an on-demand workforce. The mobile device has now become a tether that ensures mobile employees are always at the ready to handle work or personal business. For enterprises, an on-demand workforce delivers huge benefits to the enterprise in the area of increased workforce productivity, as well as, in customer service, crisis management and day-to-day operations. It also allows employees to stay connected with their personal and professional communities.

In fact, this quarter’s survey revealed that:

• 5.5 percent of employees use their mobile phone/smartphones exclusively for work and only 3 percent use them only for personal communications
• More than 90 percent of employees use their smartphone for both work and personal business
• 97 percent of mobile employees carry two or more mobile devices, and almost 50 percent carried three or more.
• Most smartphone users choose Wi-Fi to connect, but 31.8 percent say it’s because Wi-Fi is faster than 3G, rather than the cheaper alternative.
• Who pays the bills? In most cases, the company is paying some or all of the bill.

For more statistics and insight, download our Q3 Mobile Workforce Report.

Also, be sure to watch our “roving reporter” on her video highlight reel.

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Fragmentation and consolidation continue to impact enterprise mobility

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

According to the FCC’s 14th annual report, since 2003, wireless competition has decreased 32 percent. Less competition usually means less choice at more cost. The report also notes that the usage of wireless has shifted to more data-centric activities.  I would then guess that this gives an enterprise fewer choices in terms of services available in order to piece together an enterprise mobility strategy.

On the flip side, the enterprise is inundated with new devices and even more choices. IDC reported that first quarter smartphone market more than doubled from the same quarter a year ago.

Recent news has been around “fragmentation” (or not) of the Android platform, as there are multiple incompatible (or not) versions.  This reminds me of a bad horror movie in which the creature keeps breaking into multiple small pieces that each become a monster. This fragmentation of the markets within the device market (with glimmers of upcoming iPad competitors), is compounding the complexity nightmare for enterprise mobility. Now add in connection management clients from various carriers and access providers, and your mobile employees might not know where to start — when all they want to do is connect.

An enterprise is already seeing these devices in the workplace, whether or not its decided on individual vs. corporate liability for mobile devices. Your mobile workforce is looking for ways to be more productive and tools that fit their lifestyle. And now enterprises may be seeing less enterprise-grade services; from fewer vendors.

Each layer of complexity, from this fragmentation, adds more costs, not just in the cost of the new hardware, software and resources required to purchase these items, but in the resources and manpower in figuring out integrations, configurations and policies.

IT needs to have a strong enterprise mobility strategy that includes mobility “profiling” to try to rein in this complexity monster. What employee role is allowed to use devices with what variety of connection services? With more devices, but fewer services, IT needs to be very clear on what is included in their mobility infrastructure, but continue to assess how best to support their most mobile workers. You need to be able to update these profiles on the fly and get them to your workforce. And of course the ones you need to reach most are …out there…somewhere.

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What you need to know about the costs of mobility

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

Last week, on my train from NYC to DC, I was excited to see laptops out in the snack car. I hadn’t seen signs about Wi-Fi. I asked a fellow passenger, and while doing so, spotted the 3G card. “Ah, 3G.” I’m not in the “segment” in my company to have one. Plus I was on vacation. Sadly, I headed back to my book, but also thought that a 3G card would probably be wasted on me; now knowing how the costs for these can add up. And if you lose it? No problem! IT just gives you another, right?

In our recently released survey, we discovered that 35% of enterprises rarely (if ever) audit their mobile connectivity costs (more on that in a later post). So we put together some tips that you need to know about the costs of mobility. Here are some ideas for near-term financial impact. Our whitepaper covers these in more depth, along with other cost-reduction opportunities. And it’s free advice and perfect for your summer reading shelf. Or while on the train.

1.  Avoid international roaming charges – This is more than just “not traveling.”

• Get real-time alerts and reports – “warning, warning, she is roaming!”
• Detect and disable roaming connections
• Use a multi-technology mobile access network to take advantage of free Wi-Fi and local carriers

2. Reallocate under-used 3G subscriptions – 30-50% of these cards are not used

• Get utilization reports that identify accounts with no activity
• Set up under-use alerts
• Shift less active users to Wi-Fi only access

3. Megabyte offload – the industry will shift to usage-based pricing

• Record, analyze and segment your consumption patterns by user and business unit
• Set up policies to alert and manage high bandwidth applications and usage (try to avoid that $27,000 pay-per-view)
• Use technology to find and move users to lower cost connections

4. Carrier plan negotiation and optimization

• Analyze and forecast usage and non-usage trends for better plan selection
• Use data to re-negotiate

For more details, take a look at our whitepaper called “What You Need to Know About the Costs of Mobility“.

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