Inside Looking Out: An Executive View on Enterprise Mobility with Chris Allsup

Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Looking Out. This past week, I spoke with Chris Allsup. Chris is a real thought leader in the mobility management space.  Chris was a Co-Founder and Director of Global Business Development at Perlego Systems. Prior to that, he was a management consultant and held operational roles in high growth technology companies. Chris is now evaluating opportunities in technology and mobility.  For better or worse (for him) I also consider Chris a good friend.

Enterprise Mobility Foundation: Hi Chris.  It’s great speaking with you again and I hope you’re enjoying the summer.  Enterprise Mobility has changed a lot in the last few years. What would you say is the greatest recent advancement?

Chris Allsup: Very simply Philippe, I would have to say that the greatest recent advancement is the innovation in hardware design, operating systems, and carrier data networks. It takes innovation and strength in all three of those categories for mobile computing and collaboration to work efficiently. A few years ago the enterprise market lacked confidence to some level in all three of those categories which stymied adoption.  Today, that is a much different story.

EMF: Are companies looking at mobility differently today as compared to a few years ago?

CA: Drastically different view point today than prior years. Today, companies view mobility as something everyone in the organization needs to be enabled with…not just executives. When an enterprise evolves from having 1,000 devices to 30,000 devices to manage globally, they are spending more budget and the governance, risk, and compliance issues step into the spotlight as well. The enterprise is facing the two-fold problem of increased device ownership and device complexity at the same time, leaving the door is wide open for Enterprise Mobile Outsourcing.

EMF: Outsourcing?  Well that’s an interesting option in this economy!  Speaking of whch, how do you see the economy impacting mobility in the enterprise? When are we going to see an upturn in the (our) market?

CA: Ultimately mobility is rolled into the IT budget and those budgets have certainly been hit hard with the economic challenges. To that point, smartphones offer value gains in computing and voice communications, meaning that IT is going to squeeze other areas of budget overlap to make mobility work. It seems enterprises believe in the intrinsic productivity gains and it shows in the continued growth in smartphone sales.

I believe we will see increased velocity in our market when enterprises get comfortable with their own policies and management of smartphones. Every enterprise I talk to believes mobility is very important but for different reasons, when supporting the 80% of enterprises can be accomplished in a standard consultative and product approach, we will see the path to terminal velocity.

EMF: What do you think is the greatest current opportunity for enterprise mobility?

CA: The greatest opportunity for enterprise mobility right now is to build upon the lessons learned by the carriers in the help desk support of smartphone technology. Smartphones are both computer AND phone and they need a PAIR of hands to handle support at the corporate helpdesk. Building a helpdesk that is adept at smartphone technology is challenging because mobility is evolving at such a high velocity that it becomes difficult to keep up with. Those companies that solve the help desk and user support pain, enabled by mobile device management, will be well served.

EMF: What do you think is the greatest risk for organizations right now?

CA: I am not the first to say, nor the last, but security is public enemy number one. There has been a very fluid definition of what constitutes mobile security over the years and that still exists today. There will always be sensitive data resident on devices but devices now have access to even more enterprise data that resides in the cloud. Multi-factor authentication and identity access management are terms I believe we are going to hear more about as it relates to mobile computing going forward.

EMF: What steps should executives take to ensure the success of their mobility implementations?

CA: View mobility holistically and involve constituents from your all corners of your organization because different groups utilize devices in different ways. There is no silver bullet that solves all the challenges, nor one device type that will either. So my advice is to focus on building the right foundation that supports corporate policies while being flexible enough to accomplish business unit demands for their specific needs in a cost effective manner.

EMF: More and more companies are talking about their cross-platform mobile capabilities. How important do you consider this trend towards supporting more than just BlackBerry and/or Windows Mobile via one unified console?

CA: If an organization approaches their mobile strategy holistically the value of having a device and carrier agnostic foundation is self evident. Different devices and mobile operating systems contribute value to enterprise stakeholders in varying ways. Devices have a short life span and the velocity in which devices change means that hedging your bet is a solid strategy.

EMF: Mobility management has a lot of different components to it (nine by my count). If you had to name ONE component you thought was MOST important – the one that a company MUST deploy, what would it be and why?

CA: A great question. No different than when laptops entered the enterprise many years ago and network asset management tools did not comprehend assets leaving the network every day. Start first with gaining visibility into your ecosystem by finding a Mobile Device Management system that works as your foundation and build from there. If you cannot see the nodes you wish you manage all other productivity aspirations will surely be less effective.

EMF: OK…ONE last question. With the significant downturn in the economy and capital markets, what are your thoughts on mobile start-ups and the VC community’s view on new mobility companies?

CA: Anytime you have shifts in capital markets and the economy as the US has been experiencing, there are always great opportunities to innovate and invest. Whether that be in innovating a start-up, investing capital, or capitalizing on low valuations on established businesses by growing inorganically with an acquisition strategy. Patience and diligence are paramount down any path but a lot of focus right now is on software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech, healthcare, and consumer internet.

Thank you Chris for taking the time to chat with me today. It’s always a blast to get together with you and I am sure the readers of this blog appreciate hearing your thoughts on enterprise mobility.So there you go. If interested, you can connect with Chris on LinkedIn here. Do you know anyone who should be a guest here on Inside Looking Out?  Drop me a line.