Samsung sets BYOX sights on the enterprise

Earlier this month, LIRON SEGEV spent some time with the local Samsung executive team in order understand its plans on delivering robust and secure mobile solutions to the enterprise.

The more I speak to Craige Fleisher, Director of Mobile Communications at Samsung, the more I am convinced that he has been implanted with additional storage and processing chips from the Samsung production plant.

Being head of such a broad range of products means having to be able to instantly recite facts, figures, stats and info about every product and every model. Then, add all the additional new super-secret products that he cannot discuss and you start to understand my theory of an additional storage capacity implant.

Samsung has become the brand of choice for South Africans, which has naturally led to the consumer using their device not only for play, but for work too. Craige’s mission is to not only educate consumers about their new mobile device, but to ensure that devices in the corporate world are protected too.

I was fortunate to spend the morning with the Samsung executive team to gain an understanding into enterprise mobility. The partners in the room consisted of Basha Pillay (Head of Technology: End-User Computing, Dimension Data), Andre Vermeulen (Group Innovation Officer, Business Connexion), Andrea Lodolo (CTO CA Southern Africa) and Michael Church (Enterprise Lead at Citrix Solutions).

Between them they cover the majority of South Africa’s enterprises.

Evolution of BYOD to BYOX

In my consulting work, I have seen an evolution and a change in enterprise mobility. In the past it used to be about the board-level executives simply wanting to be able to access their e-mails while out of the office. Once the benefits of this freedom were realised the next evolution was access to various “dashboards” on tablets showing summarised versions of events that were of relevance to the business. However this is no longer sufficient, as the workforce is demanding more from the business in terms of being able to work remotely.

The “simple” solution was to implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy as a “cost saving” method as the business does not have to purchase devices for their staff. However, enterprises quickly realised that this is flawed as BYOD has many costs involved in terms of device management, control, data leakage, security and productivity. Businesses are now turning to a Choose Your Own Device model where they have pre-selected several devices that meet the business requirements and the staff member can choose from the list of pre-approved devices.

Companies should not assume that by placing some mobile device management software on tablets or smartphones that they have dealt with the BYO requirement as there are now several new Bring Your Own models:

Companies need to address the BYOX or bring your own everything phenomenon.

In order to understand and address BYOX, enterprises need to start with the end-in-mind and answer the question “what are you trying to achieve?” The answer to this question would lead to the correct technology that needs to be deployed and the selection of the right partner and the right device provider

Gen Mobile in the Enterprise

A key message that was discussed was about how the Gen Mobile is looking at enterprises. When the enterprises are too restrictive in their mobility policy, the young graduates prefer to take less paying positions in companies that offer better flexibility and remote working conditions. Gen Mobile are a hard working generation and being able to work from anywhere is key to attracting and retaining staff. Architect firms are now working with tech companies to design solution for environments that offer mobility and flexibility in the work place (such as the places in this post)

So in summary:

Mobile devices are fast becoming the first screen we see in the morning and the last screen we check at night. The trend of consuming data while not tethered to a machine in the office is here to stay and enterprises should embrace this, but still walk that fine line between being highly restrictive and allowing staff to be mobile.

With the correct direction and consultative process, a mobile workforce is not only an effective workforce but a loyal one too.

The Internet of all things and wearable tech are clearly on Samsung’s radar and I can only imagine what Craige and Paulo have up their sleeves with the next product evolution.

* Liron Segev is also known as The Techie Guy. You can read his blog at www.thetechieguy.com or follow him on Twitter on @Liron_Segev

* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA