As CIOs battle the influx of tablet devices in the workplace, deliberation over enterprise adoption strategies is on the rise.
Newly minted Sydney Water CIO Chris Ford told CIO Australia he has already deployed the Panasonic Toughbooks among his mobile workforce.
“We have a tablet strategy which is around more PC-based tablets where it’s needed for their jobs,” he said.
However, Ford said the desire for devices like iPads was on the increase at the water utility. He even admitted to owning one for home use.
“I could shoot myself for saying that but I do have one at home and it is an excellent tool,” he said.
“I think we’ve got a real challenge as CIOs to manage the expectations of our users who want to use iPads,” he said. “Within the organisational structure I need to provide security... and the fact that the iPad isn’t actually as secure as other means of presenting data is a real challenge for us.”
Bakers Delight CIO Joanne Stubbs, who recently unified the bakery franchise's printer fleet, said her organisation does not have a tablet strategy and provided no hints it would change in the near future.
“We’ve got too many boys who like playing with toys as it is,” she said. “The last thing we need is to encourage them.”
For Mortgage Choice CIO, Neill Rose-Innes, iPads were an inevitability from the start.
“The more we move to browser-based tools, the more we can open up the universe of end-point devices,” Rose-Innes said. “So we do have some staff and some franchisees that are using iPads.”
iPads tie into Rose-Innes’ larger mobile strategy of allowing mobile employees to remotely access the company's systems.
“We do have franchisees that are using tablets at the moment and so definitely one of our key strategies is to leverage mobile computing capabilities,” he said. “Optimising the end user experience for the iPad and iPhone versus a desktop [is important].”
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