GigaOm recently released a free report, “Enterprise mobility perceptions among IT decision makers,” that examines cloud computing, big data, and enterprise mobility. The report highlights data collected by GigaOm from 304 enterprise IT decision makers.

The findings included an observation that, while 80 percent of all enterprises support mobile phones as part of their infrastructure, the size of the business seemed to have little impact on a company’s decision to support such mobility. The report also provides a glimpse into the market share for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows devices (I won’t spoil the suspense as I hope you’ll go grab your own copy of the report), as well as some insight into application support. More...

When it comes to leveraging the magic combination of Unified Communications and mobility – and you can't deny that UC isn't really unified until it is mobile, especially in today's environment – an enterprise does have to take a few things into consideration

The factors to consider are spelled out well in a recent Tech Notes article by Gary Audin. For instance, a typical IT organization is going to have to support four distinct mobile profiles. They are the road warrior, the person who's always on the road visiting customers, for example; the teleworker, the person who works most or all of the time at home; the campus roamer, who's always at a meeting somewhere or on his or her way to one; and the nomad, who works outside the office but typically at a specific location, such as a client site. More...

In David Hirschman’s post, “Why Do We Check In?,” he quotes the tweet of a social media professional: “I did not want to be mayor of my dentist’s office. Why did I even check in?” I have been trying to figure that out myself over the past year.

Last fall, I drafted a post about “checking in” that I never published here, as I just couldn't tie it in sufficiently.  But now I have a little better perspective on where the link is between “check-ins” and Unified Communications. Basically, a “check-in” is a piece of  presence information and is clearly part of the UC paradigm (yes, that is my smiling face on the Wikipedia page for “presence”). More...

Anticipating the number of mobile devices to exceed the number of PC sales for the first time ever, you can bet the security risk associated with mobile devices will increase too. Here are a few aspects of security to keep top of mind: More...

One of the most underappreciated aspects of smartphones is the benefit of having a tool for both business and entertainment. In the early years, a dual enterprise/personal device was seen as a liability. Many companies even locked down business devices to prevent them from being used as entertainment devices. Today, however, companies have been forced by sheer momentum to integrate popular business/personal devices based on iOS and Android into their infrastructure. More...

Did you know that within the last two years, the personal health information of nearly 18 million Americans was breached electronically? That affected six percent of Americans. Even more surprising is the value of the data being sold. Medical records sell for $50 a record in the underground market which is even more lucrative than financial information, says the chairman and CEO of the Santa Fe Group. More...

The BYOD movement is truly shaking up IT.  Now, more than ever, employees are bringing their own devices to work. Not only that, on average, employees carry more than two devices each. The proliferation of devices and the additional traffic are putting big demands on the corporate network, as well as increasing the risk of data security breaches. More...

There may not be any such thing as a free lunch, but there just may be such a thing as free bandwidth.

Sound too good to be true? We can’t blame you for being suspicious, but Marty Parker over at NoJitter makes his case for leveraging Unified Communications to modify your mix of traffic in order to accommodate video with no need to add capacity. More...

In the early days, CRM tools were much like an online address book. Today, when integrated with other databases, the web, social networks, and mobile media, CRM tools are rich with information, allowing enterprises to truly understand and connect with their customers. This evolution is driving the “streamlining, adapting or even elimination of entire business processes, as well as defining a new world of business analytics that includes social/viral (influence) and transactional (business impact) intelligence," says technewsworld.More...

The need for small cells – those miniature cellular access points traditionally known as femtocells – typically arises because of coverage or capacity issues within a building. Small cells are a relatively new concept that works on an operator’s licensed frequency to extend the wireless network inside a building. These cells can be installed in a number of ways to accommodate different needs. More...