Why knowing about your information can get you an iPad

On Tuesday I had my first encounter with a blackberry playbook, and although I think the name is a problem in the UK the device itself  seemed to function pretty well.   Compared to the iPad 2 a different colleague was showing me it was smaller and, I felt, somewhat  less stylish.  Both were happily connected to both corporate and consumer email systems;  both allowed viewing of business documents and taking of notes and both were smaller and more convenient than a corporate laptop.

At the same time I have been  looking at a replacement mobile phone both for my sons and for myself.   The top end android mobile phones  now have 2 core 1.2 Ghz processors  with 1Gb of ram,  this is pretty similar in specification to my current corporate PC!   Not only that but many of these devices have both Bluetooth and HDMI out.   Without too much effort a phone plugged into a TV or HDMI compatible monitor with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard  becomes a reasonably competent computer.   Indeed an option for the Motorolla Atrix phone is a shell into which you plug the phone to convert it into an always connected netbook computer.

So consumer equipment is both stylish and powerful,  not only that users enjoy using them and often feel more productive when they use them.   So why do we not use them in a business context more often?  Quite often just because the  IS group says no because that is not how IT is done.   I've even sat in a meeting talking about this with someone who while using an iPad was arguing the business should not have them.  When asked about this he explained that he had IT skills and thus understood the rights and wrongs of using the device thus making it safe.

This then is the worry that IS people have when they are not in full control of the equipment, but they are not worrying about the equipment.  They are actually worried about the data and their responsibility towards keeping it safe.  I believe this is a problem with the way that the modern business world has evolved, business computer users assume that IS groups are solely in charge of data. That may be true however data has little value, it is information that has value and business users can often not see a difference between the two and often do not take responsibility for it.  Information stored on a USB stick and lost by an executive causes embarrassment to the company because IS did not encrypt it?  No wonder IS groups are sensitive to these things.

The truth is that companies have to trust our people with information all the time and always have, whilst USB sticks and computers found in taxis have recently appeared in the news it wasn't so long ago that this was files and reports.  Granted the former can potentially carry much more information than the latter, but the damage is still done.  I do not remember anyone talking about not using briefcases in case they get left in a taxi. Equally well until recently a very old red case was used for the budget probably because understanding the value of the information inside made it's carriers look after it appropriately.

As my colleague above was unconsciously saying it is not the consumer devices in and of themselves that are the problem.  Instead it is the training we give our users in the value of information and how to treat it. I believe this is not just a failing in our companies but also in our education system.  Our children are brought up to use information technology but are not schooled in the importance of the information itself and how it should be looked after. They do however understand it instinctively on a different level, I recently asked a room full of university students if their parents were Facebook friends with them.  The answer was about 30/70 in favour of no but when I asked why they realised it was because making sure some information did not get to the wrong eyes was important to them!  In addition many did not realise that if they downloaded just the wrong app that information could be exposed by malicious software without them even knowing.

If everyone understood these things, and IS groups trusted that, then there would be no barrier to the use of any technology in the business.  In this ideal world the workplace could become more effective, bring your own computing would free us to use our favourite computing tools and the move to the cloud would be simpler. Sadly there are other things to worry about too but raising awareness of the value of information will help people decide whether they really want to put the information at risk. If you haven't already done so add some information value awareness training to your induction programs for all staff not just the ones working in secure environments, that way you may get your hands on that iPad you've been wanting sooner.