Auto Trader owners could replace iPhones with Windows Phones

Trader Media Group (TMG), which owns Auto Trader, could replace its iPhone estate with Windows Phones, while Android will not be considered as it "has too many security vulnerabilities".

In an exclusive interview with Computing, TMG CIO Tim Jones said that the company has operated an iPhone estate for the last four to five years because it was the most mature phone on the market, but that this could be about to change.

"We are currently evaluating our mobile platform. I don't think we'd go down the Android route because they have a couple of security issues but we would go down more of the Windows Phone 8 route because they are more tightly integrated with what we want to do in the enterprise as we are very much a Microsoft shop," he said.

"We've been an iPhone user up until now because comparable devices were not mature enough. We have a lot of people wanting to access their emails but we don't just need email functionality so we took BlackBerrys out because if you are building mobile experiences for consumers, then you want [your staff] to be consuming a lot of other mobile and application experiences - and that offset the challenges that you have with managing things like iPhones in the enterprise estate," he added.

Jones explained that the iPhone estate is controlled by a mobile device management solution from Airwatch. But while iPhones are provided on a corporate level, bring your own device (BYOD) is more of a limited option.

"BYOD is not prevalent clearly where we have secure areas in which we take credit card payments in a typical call centre environment, for example. But on product floors, people rock up with their Macbook, so we just ensure that we have varying levels of connectivity that people can engage with. If you are using a TMG-provided laptop or phone then you are on more secure networks, if you bring devices yourself then you go onto our guest Wi-Fi and VPN in or use other services that are on the VPN," he said.

TMG has gone through drastic changes that have seen it turn from a large magazine publisher that had digital elements on the side, into a digital organisation with a publishing arm, Jones said.

He added that with about 300 technical staff in an organisation of 1,100, technology was a "core part of the DNA of Trader Media", and with that, the consumerisation of IT is a key component.