BYOD Users Are Forcing Changes in Corporate Applications

The Apple-IBM Collaboration Marks an Enormous Step Forward in Users Driving Applications The announcement recently that old rivals Apple and IBM are collaborating on business software for iPhone and iPad users in the workplace is just another of the disruptive technology explosions we are getting used to hearing about in the workplace. What's significant here is that companies are effectively acknowledging loss of control over which tools employees are using for business exchanges – and we are not just talking e-mails, we are talking workflow, data access, and business decisions. "Mobile" is now about integrating with operations. What Apple gains in this venture is access to an extraordinarily broad distribution network. If you thought Apple already had that, think again. What IBM gains? Well, it's Apple, the company that ‘created’ social media – and then unleashed it. IBM has made clear that it has identified ‘mobile’ as one of its biggest opportunities going forward, and is putting its money on data analytics to counter recent declines in revenue. This collaboration also dovetails neatly into customers opting for cloud computing networks, rather than old-fashioned servers and mainframes. The big issue will be security, which is a concern for Apple users, although we have yet to see significant headlines proclaiming disaster. The Apple-IBM venture hits the heart of two themes that are identifying, and even differentiating, shared services: the ability to engage and lever mobility and data analytics across the business. Peter Allen, Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, calls this "a world-changing event for the Services industry" and says it has the ability to "accelerate the shift to subscription-based business operations like few others." What this announcement will also do is give corporations a big push to take mobility seriously. SSON's 2014 survey found that mobility ranked very low on executives’ agendas. This announcement – once its significance has tricked through and we begin to see results – may well shift mobile into the spotlight and push it up to the top of the list, especially as it also meets the agility and flexibility requirements of business unit customers. So while Corporate CIOs are busy evaluating what this means for them – Apple and IBM say that they are working on over 100 industry focused apps – we may just be witnessing the end of the legacy model for business services. For an idea of just how deeply iPhones or iPads are encroaching into business, consider this: Deutsche Bank AG has almost 20,000 iPhones, while Siemens AG has 30,000 iPhones, according to Apple. Employees at more than 98% of Fortune 500 companies are using an iPhone or iPad for their work, the company said. It's a whole new world out there. [inlinead]

BYOD Users Are Forcing Changes in Corporate Applications

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