Wireless and Mobile

Businesses rely on widely distributed networks of workers, be they at HQ, in branch offices, mobile in the field or working at some other external location. Whilst the office continues to be seen as the primary place of work, more and more staff are spending at least part of their working week somewhere else. Certain employees have always needed to be on the move; today they are better connected but the availability of connectivity means that other jobs that were previously confined to offices can now also be done from afar, which also means they can be more easily outsourced to third parties. This report looks at the degree to which the 21st century workforce is distributed and the issues organisations have with enabling this. [More]

Now that mobile email is moving into the mainstream, with technology and services widely available to businesses of all sizes, organisations looking to either invest for the first time or review their current arrangements are presented with a range of approaches and options for moving forward. But how do you make sense of these and figure out the best option for your business? [More]

At one time computers and networks were only found in certain workplaces, often only selected and managed by specialists - the high priests of IT- and they were certainly far in advance of anything that even geeky hobbyists would have experienced at home. Now, not only have computers evolved from ‘techie' IT into mainstream affordable consumer electronics, domestic communications networks have changed as predicted in the 1990s from Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS) to Pretty Awesome New Stuff (PANS). [More]

We often take for granted the way office work or the clerical activities many face during the working day have evolved with the growing use of technology. From using pen and paper then typewriters, the default administrative tool of the office worker is now computers and laptops or smart mobile devices [More]

The use of mobile technology, to help optimise field service management and operations is nothing new, but how successful have past deployments been in this space, and are there lessons to be learned for those looking to invest in either new or replacement systems? [More]

A recent online workshop on the IT service management (ITSM) practicalities of deploying and managing wireless solutions for mobile and remote access demonstrated yet again that the genuine experts in any area of IT are the people out there doing it for real. The workshop was run in collaboration with our friends over at The Register, and through various surveys, polls and discussion groups we had well over 2,000 IT pros partticipating in one way or another. [More]

If there is one topic that is guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of the average corporate telecoms manager, it’s mobile roaming charges. The level of the fees imposed by mobile operators on customers making or receiving calls when travelling internationally has been a bone of contention for many years. [More]

While the spotlight of media attention often falls on external threats such as hackers, viruses, spyware and so on, it is well recognised in organisations that problems are far more likely to be caused by people working “on the inside,” potentially through malice but more likely due to foolishness or inadvertent error. Such risks need to be treated through a combination of technology deployment and policy implementation: while organisations are waking up to this, there is still some way to go to overcome past indifference and inactivity when presented with internal threats. [More]

Mobile access to business systems represents a new opportunity for business improvement, but often translates to a headache for IT. Working through the myriad of middleware and devices to develop a coherent platform strategy can be a challenge. This is further complicated by the personal nature of mobile devices which means that unlike other areas of IT, it is also necessary to deal with the strong and often very diverse views and opinions expressed by users. However, unravelling the dependencies has now become an important prerequisite for moving forward in a secure and cost-effective manner. [More]

For as long as businesses have been considering mobile working, the concern topping everyone�s list has been security. In the early days, the questions and uncertainties related to the technology, but as experience has been gained and solutions have matured, realisation is dawning that the greatest risks are associated not with the technology per se, but with how it is deployed and used... [More]

Managing the challenges of mobile communications. In the competitive global marketplace, businesses are placed under increasing pressure to have a flexible and efficient workforce that is as productive as possible and reacts to customer demands and changing conditions. The mobile phone, laptop and other small smart devices for mobile connection to corporate data all support these needs, allowing access wherever required to fit business processes. This brings its own risks, but businesses depend upon the flexibility delivered by their increasingly mobile and dispersed workforce, so must adopt a positive approach to securing their intellectual and physical assets as well as their employees. [More]

Mobile or remote working is not new, nor specific to the use of mobile technology, but the increasing dependence on instant access to IT has led to an increasing demand for mobile data services. Operators recognising the long term decline of voice revenues are keen to offer potentially lucrative mobile data services, but will mobile data rapidly follow the path of voice services to become a cost conscious commodity, or are there additional services mobile operators can offer to add value and build loyalty? Certainly mobile data services can be complex, and in a rapidly maturing technology sector, it is valuable to be insulated from the effects of rapid change and unnecessary complexity. But ultimately mobile or remote access should be regarded as just one aspect of IT usage within a regular business environment, and not a separate entity in its own right. [More]

Industry best practices such as ITIL, COBIT and ISO equivalents are increasingly being discussed as a way of optimising IT service delivery. This research note looks at how best practices are being adopted in the area of internal IT support and the impact they can have on end-user satisfaction. [More]

There are currently two viable options for wireless remote access
When considering wireless remote access, the first option that will spring to many people’s minds is WiFi hotspots. The continuing evolution of mobile operator networks, however, has led to the cellular option becoming a viable alternative. Developments in the area of HSDPA are particularly interesting as they allow mobile operators to deliver a more broadband like experience. [More]

Remote Working?