Mobile Management: Programmed for FailureMobile Management: Programmed for Failure

The reason we don't have mobile unified communications is that enterprises are simply not organized to capitalize on the potential.

One of the things that has always puzzled me about enterprise wireless is how few users get beyond the most rudimentary mobility solutions: cell phones, BlackBerries, and a wireless LAN for mobile data access. I think I have finally figured out why so little gets done and how mobility remains the strategic development that is least often used strategically. The reason we don't have mobile unified communications is that enterprises are simply not organized to capitalize on the potential.For the vast majority of enterprises, mobility takes one of two forms, cellular and Wi-Fi. Those two components are managed by two different groups, with two separate sets of objectives, and virtually no incentive to collaborate. Cellular services are managed by a purchasing group whose primary function is to select the best mix of carriers and determine the best configurations of service plans for their cellular voice and data requirements. These are cost managers, not technologists or network designers. The fact that they have at best a rudimentary understanding of the underlying technology is probably a good thing, as they deal with the cellular carriers sales reps who share that lack of understanding. Both sides together lack any understanding of Wi-Fi, WiMAX, UWB, RFID, or any other wireless technology.

With professional cellular purchasing managers, enterprises have made some significant strides in getting their cellular spending under control. A few years back, most organizations were still allowing users to choose their own cellular carriers, service plans, and equipment, and reimbursing them through expense vouchers. We were essentially ensuring that we would not get any volume discounts, special service terms, corporate standards, or anything else that smacks of management in cellular services. Any large organization that is still operating in that mode is bordering on criminal incompetence.

The first step in getting cellular expenditures under control is to figure out what you're spending, where you're spending it, and what you're actually getting. Once you've got some insight into what you're spending you can start asking important questions like: "Do we really need all of those BlackBerries?", "Is it a good idea to allow users to be buying downloadable ringers on the company tab?", and "Isn't there a cheaper way to call China than using a cell phone?"

Most organizations have gotten their cellular spend in a manageable form. That means they have established policies about what job functions require cellular, established standards for the types of services they will provide. They have also entered into contracts with a selected number of carriers to provide those services in a cost-effective fashion that implement systems that provide reporting to ensure compliance and eliminate unnecessary waste (e.g. identifying cell phones with zero use). However, all of that deals with cost control, not networking or integration.

The problem is that we have people managing "cellular," not managing "mobility." It's the old story: to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. If these folks are looking at a wireless solution, they're looking at a cellular-based wireless solution. Their outside contacts are restricted to sales reps from cellular carriers and wireless TEM companies that focus solely on cellular services, and as a result, the search space is constrained to what AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile might have to sell them. Hence we find facilities personnel who never leave the building nevertheless being equipped with wide area walkie-talkie services like Sprint-Nextel's Direct Connect that don't work very well indoors.

Far away in another part of the organization, we have another group of people who maintain the wireless LAN. This group is typically part of the lT or networking department, usually the part that deals with wired LANs. Now they might not know much about wireless either, but by trial-and-error, blind luck, or divine intervention (hiring a consultant) they have implemented a wireless LAN that can allow laptops to get on the network securely and with adequate performance most of the time. They don't know anything about cellular, voice is largely out of their purview, but they do know one trick to do local wireless data. If hammers know nails, screwdrivers know screws.

In such an environment it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to come up with the idea of replacing those Sprint Nextel walkie-talkie phones with a push-to-talk system that works over the wireless LAN. Therein lies the biggest problem with moving forward on a meaningful mobility initiative. We have people responsible for cellular and people responsible for wireless LAN, but we don't have anyone responsible for "mobility."

Correctly implemented, virtually any wireless technology is going to allow the user to be mobile, but unless we understand that is the requirement, we're shopping for products, not for solutions. As our industry moves towards convergence, many of the old concepts are falling by the wayside. Desk phones are being replaced by softphones, conferencing services are being replaced by in-house conferencing solutions, and the list goes on. However, while everyone gives lip service to the importance of mobility, that initiative is organized in the way that is least likely to yield an integrated mobility solution.

Many of us have come to realize that mobility is one of the cornerstones of unified communications. The networks of the future will have to extend that same form of rich communications from the desktop to the mobile user. The fundamental disconnect is that we haven't trained anyone or more importantly identified anyone who would actually be responsible to bring that about. Fixed mobile convergence and mobile UC solutions are floundering because there's nobody equipped and responsible for defining the requirements, evaluating the full range of options, and managing a mobile network implementation.

Cellular carriers will continue to sell cellular services and WLAN companies will continue to sell WLANs. If organizations hope to capitalize on the new wave of mobility and start to use mobile solutions strategically to improve their business performance, they're going to have to get themselves organized to take mobility matters into their own hands.The reason we don't have mobile unified communications is that enterprises are simply not organized to capitalize on the potential.