Pulp friction: The consumerization of mobile is doing us all a favor

“The consumerization of IT” is a big buzz-phrase these days and, while it might seem over-hyped, I believe this trend has legs and it directly impacts collaboration in the workplace. Writes Frank Artale:

“The consumerization trend is here to stay. It doesn’t mean that all applications move offsite. It does mean that the products that are on premises and off premises, application or infrastructure, need to adapt and enable agility and frictionless deployment. And, one last point: applications better be accessible from a smartphone.”

Collaboration has always been about people working together to get more done faster and better. With the sharing of great ideas and information, with an efficient workflow, teams should deliver superior results with less effort and in far less time than individuals working alone.

There’s just one problem. The collaborative process in the enterprise has always been full of friction: restrictive processes that don’t meet user needs, computer-based interfaces that force users to sit at a desk to input information, firewalls that limit or block data flows across supply chains, or poor integration with other systems and tools, requiring repeated data re-entry.

©iStockphoto.com/Alija

But social media, the advance guard of the consumerization movement, and the rise of enterprise sharing platforms, such as the enterprise wiki, are all about eliminating friction from connecting with others and sharing ideas. And the ability to use your familiar (and easy-to-use) mobile device for work -- the consumerization of mobile -- is a major assault on friction in enterprise collaboration. The ability to easily connect with others travels with you. The laptop may have started the trend, but mobile phones and tablets have completely removed location as an impediment to productivity while introducing new ways to collaborate.

True, there are those on the corporate side who fear the consumerization of mobile because of a potential loss of control, but many enterprises are accepting and even encouraging the BYOD trend because they understand that eliminating friction increases productivity -- even if IT has to develop new approaches to solve some security issues.

What does the consumerization of mobile mean for collaboration vendors? Users want friction eliminated NOW, and they won’t adopt a solution hoping that the application vendor will eventually support their mobile needs. If vendors want their solutions adopted, they had better embed mobility into their applications from the start. And collaboration vendors who can’t, or won’t, support mobile access had better start thinking about a new line of work.

Leigh is the Co-Founder & CEO of Aconex, the world's most widely-used online collaboration platform for the Construction and Engineering industry

Leigh Jasper is the CEO and co-founder of Aconex, the world's largest provider of online collaboration solutions to the construction and engineering industries.