Mobile Technology Is Changing The Workplace Desktop

By Mike Holstein, Vice President, Business Development and Emerging Technologies, ViewSonic

Consumerization Of IT Drives Adoption Of Virtualization

Advances in consumer mobile technology have made it easier than ever for users to access enterprise IT resources from personal devices — both at work and elsewhere. This trend towards mobility is eroding the line between business and personal computing, sparking a dramatic shift in the way users think about on-the-job technology. Today’s mobile workforce expects to use personal devices to access business data and applications, and they expect the same on-demand, anytime, anywhere experience that they get every day from their favorite websites, apps, and services. Industry analysts have named this “the consumerization of IT,” recognizing that employees want to utilize enterprise IT resources in a manner consistent with their experience of consumer electronics.

In response, organizations of all sizes have begun to sanction the use of employee-owned laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other devices in the workplace. This phenomenon, known as “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD, is one of the fastest growing IT trends in business and beyond. Nonprofit groups, educational institutions, and other organizations are all implementing BYOD policies in response to employee demand to use personal devices at work.

Meanwhile, software development within organizations is evolving to meet the needs of a mobile-centric business environment. Cloud-based applications and web apps and services are replacing traditional client-server architectures as the preferred computing model of the future. Consumers are readily adopting and adapting to the convenience of new mobile devices and apps, unconsciously embracing cloud computing at the same time. Users are often unaware that they are migrating to an entirely new paradigm of application delivery, one which today’s business climate is just starting to reflect.

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