Inside Looking Out: An Executive View on Enterprise Mobility with Bob Tinker (revisited)

Welcome back to the latest edition of Inside Looking Out.  We had the opportunity to sit down in Orlando with Bob Tinker, CEO of MobileIron.  If you recall, Bob sat down with us almost two years ago where we talked about trends in enterprise mobility.  Two years is an eternity in enterprise mobility….so let’s see how things have evolved.

Enterprise Mobility Foundation: Hi Bob.  It’s good to see you here at BlackBerry World.  Looking back on our discussion ~24 months ago, what stands out to you the most in hindsight?

Bob Tinker: 24 months ago we were at the beginning of a massive wave of enterprise mobility. When I look back at our talk, three things stand out the most. One, we believed that we were facing an explosion of mobile devices. Two, the idea of companies going multi-OS. Three, we had seen early signs of a new wave of Mobile IT. All that has come true.

What we didn’t anticipate was just how fast the wave would grow and how powerful the effect of user driven preference and user-purchased device would be on IT. We also didn’t see tablets coming.  This is across both small and the very largest companies. Many companies are shifting from the old model of issuing employees corporate-owned BlackBerrys, to a model that provides employee choice and allows a mix of the Bring Your Own Device and corporate issued devices.  I think this is a sign that the relationship between IT and users is changing when it comes to mobile.

EMF: OK…so ~18 months ago, the “story” was all about mobile device management. However today, it seems to be shifting more to mobile application management. What’s your take on this?

BT: Device management and security are still critical because they are the foundation of any enterprise mobility strategy. IT is shifting from playing mobile police officer to delivering mobility as a high value service to the business users, usually in the form of mobile apps and collaboration.

I heard a story about a CIO who was intrigued by the possibility of using smartphone and tablet apps for business purposes. So, he launched a contest. He purchased 30 iPads, distributed them to the company’s different lines of business, and told employees to come up with ways in which they could leverage the device to do their jobs better. The contest generated dozens of application ideas to improve their business. The winners got to keep their iPads, and the CIO is building the apps. Your question is very timely in that companies want to extend their mobile management and security to encompass these new apps, however, it’s broader than that. Enterprises also want to combine management and security with the lessons from the consumer world for discovery, recommendation, and distribution. They want their own private enterprise app storefront.

EMF: This week at BlackBerry World, the biggest buzz was about the PlayBook. Tablets are now all the rage. How will these mobile devices compare to smartphone adoption in the workplace?

BT: Tablets are a step function greater than smartphones in terms of what their impact will be.  Tablets are different for several reasons. First, IT is often the one pushing the adoption of tablets.  With smartphones, it was primarily user-led. Second, tablets provide a more transformational platform on which to build business applications and change business processes.  I think tablets are triggering a wave of innovation across every vertical market.

EMF: Tablets are obviously more expensive than smartphones. How will this impact the procurement of these devices?  Will they – by the sheer nature of their higher cost – be predominantly corporate liable devices?  Perhaps as a replacement for laptops?

BT: I think the tablet ownership will be a mix of corporate-liable and employee-liable, and it will depend on the company.  I think that there are cases where tablets will replace laptops. Vertical markets, such as healthcare or insurance, will have a specific application that catalyzes a corporate-led tablet deployment.   In other cases, there isn’t a specific application in mind.  In other cases, tablets are a groundswell of user-owned devices driven by user preference.   Regardless of who owns the tablet, a key assumption is that personal and corporate information are inevitably going to end up on it. The challenge becomes how does one protect the corporate data while preserving the privacy of the personal data? IT departments will need to manage this boundary with both technology and company policy.

EMF: Let’s quickly shift gears. There’s a big debate around who in the workplace who should “own” mobility. Regardless of that answer, who will be the leading vendor of mobility services?  Will it be the operators, system integrators or MSP?

BT: Ownership of mobility in the enterprise is going to be shared by two constituencies…. IT and users.  The users ultimately drive mobile adoption inside the enterprise.  User experience for any mobility initiative is will be key – no mobility initiative will succeed without the user. This creates a profound shift in the relationship between users and IT.  In the past, this relationship has been almost parental with IT setting rules and enforcing behavior. With mobile, it becomes a collaboration because users are willing to take, and in some cases demand, a more responsible adult-like relationship with IT.   IT’s role become a mix of ensuring corporate data is secure while enabling applications and services that users love and improve the business The best part is that this new model is a lot more fun for both IT and users.

Your question as to who will be the leading vendor of mobility services is an interesting one. Most enterprise IT organizations have limited internal expertise in mobility, so they often want a partner they can trust. A mobile operator brings mobile expertise to the table, and many of them are already trusted partners with contracts in place. But, they don’t traditionally have experience with IT.  Mobile operators are gearing up enterprise sales and delivery teams and adding mobile IT expertise.  By offering Mobile IT services, the operator has an opportunity to go after the IT budget, rearranging billions of dollars in the market. On the other hand, the system integrators traditionally have deep IT expertise, but lack in mobile. They are heavily investing to build mobile expertise to also deliver a mobile IT offer to their enterprise customers.  MSPs are a new player for those customers who want a fully outsourced model where they buy mobile IT as a hosted service. At the end of the day, mobile IT offers from operators, system integrators, and MSPs will become more similar, which puts enterprise customers in the position of having several good choices.

EMF: Bob, we started today’s discussion by looking 12-18 months back. What’s the hottest issue you expect to see in enterprise mobility in the coming 12-18 months?

BT: Two things:  Mobile apps and mobile IT expertise.

On Apps, the same explosion of apps that happened in the consumer world is now igniting the enterprise world.  These mobile apps are getting built everywhere not just under IT’s purview. It’s easy to call these rogue apps, but there is something more profound at work. Apps are relatively easy and inexpensive to build on the new mobile platforms. It’s unleashing a wave of innovation. Some are big apps, some are small apps. Some are built by IT; some are built by a team, or even a person who wanted to make something better.  This is the Enterprise App Storm. It is both a challenge and an opportunity for IT. IT is taking lessons from the consumer world by combining mechanisms to enable discovery and distribution of innovative apps, while also ensuring the management and security of the enterprise world.  This usually turns into something like a private enterprise app storefront.

On expertise, an equally hot issue  is finding IT people with mobile experience. Mobile is no longer the redheaded stepchild of IT. Mobile is now the Cinderella. It’s on the top 5 list of the CIO, and in some cases the CEO. IT organizations are building mobile teams and keen for mobile expertise.  We are watching the birth of a new profession…MobileIT. Mobile IT expertise is in short supply. The mobile IT pioneers of today will be in high demand. They will be the leaders of tomorrow and help change how their companies do business. That’s exciting.

Well there you have it. Thanks Bob, for taking the time once again to chat with me about your views on enterprise mobility.  If interested, you can connect with Bob here.  Do you know anyone who should be a guest here on Inside Looking Out?  Drop us a line.