Bring Your Tablet to Work

Tablet sales are on the rise. By some estimates, tablet sales may jump from 65 million in 2011 to 122 million in 2012. [1] Tablets are on track to be one of the fastest adopted computing technologies ever developed. In December, The Wall Street Journal blog ran post by Rurik Bradbury suggesting that we are entering a phase when tablets will dominate the enterprise.[2]

Affordability, flexibility, and mobility are some of the many features that make tablets so attractive for businesses and healthcare. The rapid adoption of tablets and other wireless devices in the enterprise is stunning, considering that the caution that IT has often had with adopting new technologies too fast. Many hospitals that have yet to consider migrating from Windows XP are discussing their BYOD policies.

In 2007, Hadassah University Hospital refused to even consider personal devices in the healthcare system. By 2009, they began allowing personal PCs. But the doctors still wanted to use their wireless devices. So IT department made a series of presentations on BYOD adoption and after about six months, the managed agreed. Initially this was a big challenge.

“It was chaos,” said Barak Shrefler, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Jerusalem, Israel-based hospital system. “When hundreds of people bring them in you start to ask whether maybe you can find a way to do it without risking your security and information.”[3]

A BYOD atmosphere required IT to balance security concerns with the unique challenge of personal devices and personal privacy. ”I told them that the only thing I care about on their devices is the applications and the Hadassah data, that’s it,” Shrefler said. “I told them that it’s their own privacy and we’re not going to invade their privacy. The users were satisfied with that.”

In 2013, many business and healthcare facilites will face a similar challenge to Hadassah University Hospital. With the number of executives owning tablets, the drive to find tablet support will rise in businesses of all sizes from SMBs to Enterprise. While this shift will require organizations to think about BYOD security and the relation between BYOD and the cloud, it will also open new possibilities for collaboration, social innovation, customized apps for specific business objectives, and much more.

This year, our Integracon blog continue cover the many ways this emerging convergence of wireless computing, cloud computing, virtualization and other technologies will potentially impact businesses. At the same time, the computer engineers and experts at Integracon will continue to help you our clients navigate this changing and developing, offering both the technical know-how and strategic long-term advice that can help your company safely and effectively utilize these new technologies. For more help on all your IT needs, don’t forget to call us at 865-330-2323 or chat via our contact page at Integracon.com.

[1] How Tablet Sales Have Exploded, And Where The Next Wave Of Growth Will Come From. Business Insider, December 31, 2012
[2] Tablets Will Dominate Enterprise IT. Rurick Bradbury. Wall Street Journal Blog, December 21, 2012.
[3] How Hadassah University Hospital’s “no” to BYOD later turned into “yes.” Todd R. Weiss. CITEworld, December 27, 2012.