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Does Your Organization Support Multiple Devices?

In most companies, the common standard is to have the IT department choose the desktop/mobile OS and operating devices for the entire organization. This is done for compatibility and increased efficiency purposes. However, I am a personal supporter of the belief that users should decide what technology they want to use, if you have infrastructure that supports it and manage it successfully.

Therefore, the IT department should make sure that all critical documents and apps are supported by all major browsers and are compatible with the main operating systems. I also like people to use their own cloud SaaS tools, some of which gets adopted through viral means, rather than being pushed down from top to bottom.

Supporting multiple devices allows you the flexibility and choice needed when you run a complex IT infrastructure, where different technologies might come together. For example, you might use different vendors for clients and servers. However, how do organizations support multiple devices? It is not common, but it may be done. In our company, we have Windows, Macs, iPhones, Blackberries, Windows Mobile and Android.

What would be the solution to support all of these devices in your organization? The cloud, of course! Usually, enterprise managed cloud solutions offer support for the most common operating systems. For example, NaviSite, with which I have collaborated, offers Windows and Linux support: http://www.navisite.com/technology-navicloud-platform-architecture.htm Also, VMware, the leader in virtualization services, lets you run any operating system.

However, if you use multiple devices, you should keep security in mind and use a tool that protects all mobile or desktop operating systems. All employees must be responsible, especially in terms of mobile devices, such us making sure that a device does not get lost. In this case, the responsibility of the IT department is to implement strong policies for security and data privacy. I believe that employees must be given a choice of the devices/OSs to be used. People should work on the system they feel more comfortable on and where they can be more productive. Going to the cloud enables you to support this freedom of choice.

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