Now, due to the “Consurmerization of the market” a new trend have raised, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) – which is supposed to be the brand new future of IT-Technologies that we have to support (in Corporate IT).

So what is included – in this new approach ??

The Pro’s

• Works better with to days Digital Natives – they are used to be always on.
• Strengthen the employees morale – of hiving the tools they desire
• Flexibility – get the best quality for the $$ (in regards to hardware)
• Best tool for the tasks – supposed that employees will be more efficient using the tools they are best at using.
• Wider scope of Networking, adding additional resources to skills set – as a friend for advice.

The Con’s

• Integration and Standardization of Platform is more difficult
• Enhanced need for Integrations of Services to Tools
• Security and Loss of Control
• Support of “multiple platforms – multiple tools” does extend the end users to become their own support / helpdesk team

And my opinion

To take the positive notes on this conversation – do we get more happy working behind the MacAir flavored Notebook, than a standard HP (insert own brand) Laptop. Does the tool (laptop) actually make us more productive, i have my doubts.
If Employee’s morale is Low – then you would be naive if a new gadget / tools would resolve the matters; Talk to your HR Manager, he/she is not doing his/her job.

The “Digital Native” do have a more extensive network, but are they not also the ones that are taking away working time to do other actions – Yes you can get advice from an Wider Audience, but this audience will also take your team members time.

I am a big fan of looking into one’s organisations way of doing business, The tools itself es should never make the decision if the Order can be booked, nor should the quality of the Word Document / Excel Spreadsheet stop our procedure, so any tool that can make the flow better, is welcome by me. But lets assume (just for a second) that the working procedure is ok – but supported by tools like (terrible thought) Microsoft Office / or Similar tools -> why in the world should we spend time make them integrated with different obscure services and functions in a number of “alternative solutions” – And please, i am no way near a fan of MS-Office.

Hello this is help-desk – is a gone story – if we need to support a gazillion of devices are more.. Some of the conversations around this subject is that the end user will become his/her own support channel, not sure where i see the value – the office employees should spend their time making $$ for the organisation- not supporting upgrades to the latest facebook application on the IOS.

Do i think (BYOD) is a good idea ?? Hell no, would i like to have my own devices – hell yes..

I have recently read this (online) – and gave it some thoughts:

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

I have been a GREAT FAN of GMAIL and the Google Services for Long. Hey – i was even one of those people who actuallly saw the value in Google Wave (R.I.P) – and for long have seen this as a center of my web browsing.

I used Gmail, Reader and Docs – as the basis of my Virtual (Private) Life, – but the new look – which according to Google should be an improvement – makes my eyes bleed and my mind wander off, away from the content and important stuff.

So i beg of Google, PLEASE, PLEASE let me keep the old look – i am so pleased with he services i have, i find it an excellent value – but please, i do not want the improvement.

We have just encountered (October 2011) a few days of “Challenging Blackberry Connectivity Issues” and as such a public cry-out for “killing the company, switching to IPhone/Android or something else”.

We tend to forget (Can’t talk about the whole world, so i will focus on the Nordic) – that we this year had outage on the 3-Network, we had the Telenor and Telia Outage(s), and several other drop out…. All easily forgotten – just about a week after the event, once we got our gadgets back(in operation).

We have made our-self somehow electronic citizens, addicts and ignorants at the same time, expecting no problems ever to occur, and cry out for remediation if we ever experience a major (or minor) incident.

My biggest fear is, that we never really appreciate where the technology has brought us, and how fast if has become a real part of our daily life, to an extend (and addiction) that start makes me a bit worried.

How about you, can you control you addiction ???

As a LinkedIn User, I have been a frequent user of the included box.net offerings, which does provide the users access to 5GB storage, free of charge. This service is excellent and something i have come to appreciate – since the amount is sufficient for now, and it was possible for me to share with the LinkedIn Community (both Public Sharing and Invitation Basis).

Although I have my own “Private Storage Cloud at home = 4TB in a Safe Raid Environment – and from a security standpoint I have not provided Internet Access to my NAS (Netgear Readynas) – since I just could not be bothered to set it up.

The box.net account have been good to me, the system are quite efficient, uploads are pretty fast and in general integration with 3’rd party apps have been a killer for me, but now I wanted to automate the system, and having replication of folders, throughout several computers.

So, behold – up with the Credit Card, ready to Upgrade.. .But whoaaaa... Hold your horses, only the business educations have the sync tool, and what?? I have to buy a minimum of 3 licenses (total cost in the areas of 450$). They must be kidding me – and this is only for 25GB storage.

Having had the desire to try out the Dropbox.com solution for quite some time; perhaps this was the best opportunity. I did my investigation, the sync tool are included in all versions (including the 2 GB free service) – and now i am also able to access my files form Linux, Android, Blackberry – and several Windows enabled computers.

I will (most likely) have to pull out this Credit Card (again), since surely the 2 GB is not sufficient – but it is certainly with pleasure that dropbox.com offer 50GB for a yearly cost of 100$ as alternative.

The system works, and combined with my existing backup solutions (Symantec/Norton Backup off course) – then I feel I have the access to the right tools. I would strongly encourage you to try it out .. Right here.

Always have your stuff when you need it with @Dropbox. 2GB account is free! http://db.tt/QeDRzVEh

I did, on the other hand – take a peek at the Google+(Plus) service, as offered by Google.

The Benefits;

• A tremendous Audience, who all feel a part of something positive
• An extensive amount of Opportunities, tracks and joyful training events.
• A Chance to meet up with Peers. Colleagues and Partners from around the World.

The Drawbacks

• Well, with the sheer volume of people, it is tough to dive deep into issues – it tends to be a bunch of rushed sessions with a lot of PowerPoint slides.
• No obvious direction in tracks – Benefit you can choose to your own desire, but perhaps not all tracks are identified in such a manner that I can (will) chose the best for myself.

And then there is Vegas….

Although Vegas can be a breathtaking experience (especially for us Europeans) – it also comes with a kind of tired look into it; a few days of excitement get’s replaced by the desire and longing for getting back, most likely due to the same thing that exits you – the constant pressure for “being engaged and encouraged” – and a Winner (of all times)… As a taxi driver once told me … Vegas Isn’t Built of the Money made by Winners.
But yes, we are here – engaged and in excellent mood.. Cannot wait for getting home.

Nothing is worse that calling and doing the old “Just checking in…” routine.  You are wasting time: Your own, Your prospects time, and making it seem as if you are nothing but a robot caller.

You want to give the opposite impression to your Prospect.  You want the individual to see you as someone with value and expertise to add to their lives/daily works.

To ensure that we are making the right impression and adding value in services sales call, try to follow the principle of V.I.P. selling.

V.I.P. selling means that every conversation we have with a client should meet the V.I.P. criteria:

1. VALUE
2. INTEREST
3. and POSITION your company and yourself as a trusted resource

This means that calling to “just check in” is not acceptable – it’s a waste of an opportunity to have a more engaging interaction with your prospect!

Instead, call with an introduction to somebody else they would want to know, or tell them about an interesting event, or a great article you read about their industry.  Something…anything…to make the call more relevant to a prospect.

But at the same time, i think we are come to the term, that we have a hard time to live a life without this opportunity, something i find quite strange.

I was in Oslo for a business strip for the last 2 days, and having experienced (first hand) what the Outage of Telenor did to Oslo, it is amazing what happened.

The closure of the services did happen after lunch time (i only experienced at 15:30 due to other engagements). The mobile network was down, i though there was a bug on my telephone, who could image that the network was down??

Once the problem identified, I found out, that the desktop telephone closest to me was not connected (Hey, this has been my seat for 2 days and i did not know) – finally had to move to another chair (argh.. ) to attend my call.

Once completed – out of the door and towards the Oslo Airport, for a trip back to Denmark.

In the train – i noted the travellers with me, staring at the phone, to see when the roaming services brought us out of the grasp of Telenor and into a network; for the passengers quickly to pick up the phone to call (someone) to actually tell them that the conversation could be cut off, since they was on the train ?? and the phone system had problems (like someone else in Norway did not notice).

I am amazed that we have passed the point of no return, we are so much used to the service level from the Network providers, that we have to call someone else, to tell them something is wrong – have our life really become so boring, that this is something to discuss..

I spent 20 minutes on the train in total relaxed environment – although i missed my flight back home / had to get new tickets, due to not being able to call the travel agent to arrange a changed ticket, but silence is something appreciated and hard to come by.

How was your Friday????

The services are described as: Norton DNS is a service that provides faster and more reliable web browsing with basic security. It doesn’t require a client. You can enable Norton DNS at your router, to protect all the devices in your home, or you can use Norton DNS on individual computers.

Many of us use the service provided by our ISP (in my case Bredbandsbolaget) in Sweden, whom i in general are satisfied with as a supplier. But once in a while, there are sites which i would have preferred a different response (while surfing to) and i would like not to be forced to live by all rules that are being placed in front of my by BB and the Swedish Government.

The services does not require you to install software or others, basically you can change it at your computer, router level or where you find convenient. A sound rule of advise, if you do not know the benefit / changes that you impose, do not proceed.

If you wish to learn more about the drawbacks and potential risk about DNS Poisioning, please read here.