Take a poll about your Smartphone

A contribution from Eric Mack with ICA, developers of the “GTD Enabled” application eProductivity for IBM Lotus Notes

Does your employer block productivity apps on your BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android Smartphone?

With the recent discussions about Apps and how consumers want the freedom to find, evaluate, and purchase Apps for their Smartphones, I wonder how many users are able download and use a productivity application and how many have policies that prevent them from doing so.

If you found a productivity application for your mobile device that was proven to increase your performance, would you: a) be allowed to install it? b) encounter resistance (or refusal) from IT to allow you to install it? c) make a business case to management for why this App should be allowed?

Please take a moment to take the quick poll then scroll down to share your comments.

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I’m not asking whether you think Smartphones connected to enterprise systems should be locked down or not – there are many valid arguments for both sides of that discussion. What I most want to know is what the current climate is like when it comes to productivity applications on mobile devices and what organizations are doing to encourage/permit or discourage/restrict users from downloading and using productivity applications on their mobile devices.

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6 Comments

  1. Would love eProductivity for my bberry but would have to “sell” to my organization as they only allow “company approved” apps. I love what it has done for lotus notes.

  2. It seems that every thoughtful organization wants productivity from employees. Why not allow them to utilize software that suits their style? What should it matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice?

  3. One of the big benefits of being self employed is I can do anything I want with my hardware. I’m currently debating jailbreaking my iPod to get back to the rev of SW I had before iOS4 which is a disaster for me.

  4. I can do what I want with apps on my company iPhone (except jailbreak), the problem that I had was getting eProductivity onto my company provided laptop. I was only able to get it installed based on my job title (another user with a more junior title was refused) and only then on the grounds that I understand the IT take no responsibility for my Notes. If I have a Lotus Notes issue I either have to fix it myself or compleetely uninstall eProductivity before the IT department will look at it (even if the problem has nothing to do with Notes).

  5. I use my personal phone a lot for company business, so I can install anything that I want. The only difficulty is that our enterprise email system won’t work with my phone…that is a real pain.

  6. @Phil
    Speaking as the head of the I.T. dept. for my organization, I agree that businesses want productivity from their employees. The problem is there are HR rules that come into play and the employer is forced to be careful about what they permit lest they are on the hook for breaking some rules that get them into hot water. This, at times, leads to disappointment.

    @Colin
    I wish I could support every app out there, but it’s just me and a few other people and so we have to draw the line somewhere. End users are in a position where they can trust every app to work as advertised; I.T. people tend to trust nothing they don’t know everything about. It’s precarious, but that’s reality. We are more permissive than other I.T. departments I know, and we do our best and hope for the best with the caveat that the end user may be on their own if we can’t figure it out.

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