Employees who use mobile and computing technologies are usually provided with company-issued PCs and Blackberry or other devices. But, ever since the iPhone and Android devices were introduced, employees want to bring their own mobile devices. They don't want their company to choose what device they're going to use. So the company has to figure out a way to allow them to do that, but maintain proper policy controls and security safeguards.

Wireless provides wonderful opportunities for the mobile workforce. However, network connectivity is very inconsistent. There can be dropped calls, data speed can be slow and unpredictable and the capacity of the network could be constrained.

There are ways to work with companies to help them manage their expectations about mobile connectivity, and manage their usage. The role of WiFi also has to be managed. Companies might also want to consider service level agreements with their wireless operator. There are tools to help them do that.

Wireless services are expensive to use compared with traditional line-to-line telecom – particularly for data. Today, voice and text have become almost free on mobile. The main currency for wireless carriers is charging for data usage on the network. It's expensive. The retail price of wireless connectivity, specifically data connectivity, is more than $10 per gigabyte, which limits what employees can use, how much they can use it and which media they can use.

It is important for companies to have tools to view and manage their network usage. They must develop the appropriate "sandboxing" policies between business and personal usage of mobile devices. There are also best practices for working with wireless operators to determine the appropriate service plans that fit their company profile.

Employees are running around with all sorts of connected mobile devices that contain all sorts of valuable corporate information including email lists, contact lists and other company documents. The security procedures for smart phones, especially, are still rather underdeveloped. Companies must become knowledgeable about the particular and unique threats to security posed by mobile and the tools available to help them develop a holistic approach to security. 

Mobile provides wonderful opportunities for any organization to be more productive and provide new paths of monetization. But determining the most effective way to implement mobile can be very complex. The value chain consists of a lot of companies offering point solutions. Companies need to:

• Understand the value chain of solutions providers.
• Determine how mobile will work with legacy systems and processes.
• Define what the benefits of a mobile implementation will be for them.