Management - CIOInsight
Home arrow Management arrow Should IT Jettison the BlackBerry?

Management Slideshow:
Should IT Jettison the BlackBerry?

By Tony Kontzer on 2011-10-26


When Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) unleashed the first Blackberry devices on the world in 1999, it marked the first time corporate IT departments had a viable option for delivering Email to employees' mobile phones. No wonder the devices spread like a wildfire throughout corporate America, spawning a generation of professional "CrackBerry" addicts. But, as the mobile phone market shifted its emphasis to smart phones in the ensuing years, Apple -- and later Google -- put into the hands of consumers a computing device that was far more diverse than BlackBerry's. As business users have steadily acquired iPhones and Android-powered devices for personal use, they've increasingly sought to use them at work in place of their BlackBerrys. This goes a long way toward explaining recent survey findings from Enterprise Management Associates indicating that only 16% of respondents who are BlackBerry users in large enterprises are satisfied with their devices, and that more than 30% of respondents plan to switch platforms in the coming year. With that in mind, we offer you eight reasons why IT organizations should consider jettisoning the BlackBerry from their mobile strategies:

LATEST STORIES

BLOGS
 
  • of
Behind the times
RIM has missed the whole mobile Internet browser trend, insisting on cranking out great Email devices that seemingly have no idea what to do with Web pages.

Strategy is unfocused
Months after introducing a new OS for its Playbook tablet, RIM announces another OS—BBX—that will marry its tablet and smartphone operating systems. But the company offers no details on the availability of BBX, or on which devices it will run.

It lags as an application platform
Despite a years-long head start, RIM is woefully behind Apple and Google in delivering a compelling assortment of mobile apps. And the apps that are available are largely mediocre.

Its tablet has had minimal impact
Introduced amid much ballyhoo, the aforementioned Playbook—with its lack of a native Email client—has been a relative dud. Even members of the Canadian Parliament—almost all of them BlackBerry phone enthusiasts—have almost unanimously chosen the iPad.

Users don't like it
If, as Enterprise Management Associates reports, nearly one-third of all corporate BlackBerry users responding to its recent survey are preparing to jump ship to another device in the coming year, there's no reason to wait until your BlackBerry Enterprise Server sits completely idle.

Outages raise dependability questions
Giving away all the free apps in the world—much less the $100 worth RIM is offering—isn't going to erase the sting of the nearly four-day outage users endured in October 2011.

It has minimal consumer appeal…
By now, we're all clear that the consumerization of IT is a real phenomenon. So if mainstream consumers—some of whom are your future employees—don't like BlackBerrys, why continue supporting them?

…Yet is desperately seeking consumer acceptance
RIM’s obvious, if clumsy, attempts to make itself more consumer-friendly undermine the enterprise-centric design that has been its biggest market advantage.

  • More slideshows

FEATURED SPONSORED VIDEOS

FEATURED SPONSORED ARTICLES

Erasable E-Paper Saves Trees, Cuts Costs

Why Smart Companies Should Adopt the Lessons of Gaming

Interest in Mobile WiFi Hotspots Fuels New Solutions

A Closer Look at Public Cloud Security

View More Articles

  Brought to You By
Click Here



 

Advertisement

Sponsored Links
  • Try Windows Azure free for 90 days

  • Introducing the world's first family of systems with integrated expertise

  • FREE Securing Smartphones & Tablets for Dummies Book from Sophos
  • 77% of the Fortune 500 Manage Content Securely with Box.
  • Leverage your virtual computing environment with Dell.
  • Build an IT Infrastructure That Delivers the Future
  • 5 New Technologies That Will Change Enterprise ITAdvertisement
  • eWEEK Quick LInks

     
    Close this advertisement