Mobile data maketh the IT manager

In some ways, any discussion about mobile data strategy mimics the arguments around voice-over IP (VoIP).

Last year, Computing highlighted the tensions created within organisations when VoIP strategies were being considered. Should networks equipped with VoIP be the provenance of the IT manager or the communications manager, we asked, and reflected what was at stake with a picture of two guys fighting.

It was not until organisations began to consider the possibilities of VoIP technology that the argument came under consideration.

But the fact of the matter is that, thanks to the digital revolution, more and more areas of a company's infrastructure are starting to enter the orbit of the IT manager. This is certainly true of mobile data.

The average IT manager does not necessarily want to get involved in the provision and management of the company's telephone, and especially not mobile telephones.

But what about laptops? If an employee buys their own laptop to do some company business on, does that laptop become the concern of the IT manager? Many would say it does, not least because of the question of security and even liability.

And what, then, about a PDA? Is that an IT manager's concern? Is it used for business? Will it hold company data? Is it a security concern?

Our research into mobile data revealed that while IT managers were happy to consider a laptop, however purchased, as part of the company's IT structure, it certainly wasn't true of most PDAs, unless they had been bought for a specific company-related purpose. And it was definitely not true of any kind of phone, however sophisticated.

That will have to change. Some organisations are already beginning to understand the impact that mobile technology in its entirety can have.

There is an endless supply of devices out there which can now store, send and manipulate information. They come in all shapes and sizes and they can be called by all sorts of names.

Some look like phones and some don't, but they all have one thing in common. Like it or not, they are computers and, like any computer, they can be used for a variety of useful purposes and can pose a threat to the security of any organisation.

And, also like any other computer, they are loaded with opportunity - opportunities to find new business and to find new and better ways of working. Opportunities to make money, to care for customers better and to beat the competition. They present opportunities galore.

Some IT managers understand this already and are taking advantage of what is on offer at the moment. Others, no doubt, are waiting to see what the future will bring. But it does not surprise us that the mobile phone vendors and service providers are beginning to look very closely at IT managers.

Many IT managers will not believe this just yet, but they are the gatekeepers of the IT infrastructure of any organisation, and telephony and mobility in all their various forms are marching into that infrastructure.

They will require organisation and hard work, but they will also require budget, and with that comes power. The IT manager who plays his cards right is about to become a lot more powerful.

Click here for the full report from Computing's VoIP roundtable.