Year end musing on Tablets, Notebooks and education

As we wrap up 2012, it would be an understatement to say it has been a year of tablets and mobile computing. Consumers were in the driving seat with a wide array of tablets available to them and corporations and Enterprise Architects continued to make the stride towards mobile-enablement of workforce with BYOD strategies.

As the devices become ubiquitous, manufacturers continue to look for fortunes at the Bottom of the Pyramid (apologies C.K. Prahalad). Just a small sampling:

• Google was selling a $99 Chromebook to teachers this holiday season while also promoting its Nexus tablets 
• Amazon’s Kindle continues to attract not just budget conscious tablet buyers but also those who want to hook into its ecosystem including Amazon prime subscriptions
• RIMM 's PlayBook surprised analysts who had all but written off the blackberry maker (link)
• Of course, Apple doesn’t want to be left out of the party. Not surprisingly announced iPad mini - Every inch an iPad  targeted at the budget concious

A lot more devices from a variety of players hold promise and I guess we are seeing just the tip of iceberg when it comes to innovation at the bottom of pyramid. Given this climate of euphoria, it was a bit chilling to read the NYT account of the challenges being faced by India’s answer to the BoP tablet market – Akash

After creating sufficient mindshare among consumers, marketers seem to be going after the holy grail - next generation market – namely students. A few years ago, a consortia of corporations joined together to provide One Laptop per Child. While the world awaits the laptop for each child, individual tech companies and politicians are not waiting. Manufacturers seem to have found a cash cow: Governments around the world that are pandering to citizen with promises of laptops (for votes?). A sampling from the media reports

• The Uttar Pradesh government has started assessing the supplying capacity of Hewlett Packard (HP), which has quoted the lowest bid for supplying 15 lakh laptops that the government will distribute among students who passed Class XII in 2012 and are pursuing higher education. (Ref Times of India)
• TN govt (India) to give free laptops to students this week: The ambitious free laptop scheme of the Tamil Nadu government, under which 68 lakh laptops are to be distributed to government-aided higher secondary school and college students, is all set to roll this week. (article)
• North Carolina, US “We’re very excited that Orange County Schools will launch our first-ever effort to do a digital conversion (in) grades six through 12,” says Chief Academic Officer of Orange County Schools Dr. Denise Morton. “All students will have a laptop to use during the day and at home at night.” (ref article) 
• Australian govt funds 141,000 laptops for schools

Just as I was beginning to wonder about the new generation of tech-saavy-laptop-tablet-wielding youngsters coming to the market, I came across an article on how Students make a quick buck off government laptops. "Many of these graduates don’t have jobs and their families are in a poor state. One father sold his laptop when his son was away, saying he was just watching movies in it with his friends.”

Paraphrasing Queen Marie Antoinette “If you cant equip them with knowledge to get ahead, equip them with tablets?” And a happy new year to rest of us!

Psst … You want to replace your office computer with an iPad? Sure. Do you want the SLA to go with it?

There was an interesting in Wall Street Journal that I was reflecting on over the weekend (Apple Macs Land on More Corporate Desks). The article chronicles how General Electric employees can now choose Apple over Windows PCs. Though the spotlight was on GE, the author adds “Apple has very little of the corporate computer market but is making progress, according to market researcher Forrester Research, which estimates the Cupertino, Calif., company will sell $9 billion worth of Macs and $10 billion worth of iPads to businesses this year, up about 50% from last year.” A tweet from Prof. San yesterday alerted me to another article, almost a corollary to the fist one titled “How management has failed at RIM.” The article chronicles the rise and fall of Canadian tech giant that that till few years ago was unstoppable.
These and other similar articles appearing in business press are a sure sign that business users are looking at adopting wider range of smart-devices at work. The popularity, ease of use and features of smart phones and tablet computers have been analyzed by tech analysts, digerati and bloggers but the Enterprise Architect in me continues to reflect on the implication of these technologies on business computing.

The shift towards personal choice of computing devices at work has interesting implications: Blackberry, that till recently was the standard-issue smartphone for business users is now losing ground. Business users who prefer iPhones or Android smartphones are tired of carrying two devices – one for personal use and another issued by their employers. Add to the mix the resurgence of interest in tablet computing devices, lead by iPad’s, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, BN’s Nook and several Windows based competitors.

Technology innovations in the space continue pushing boundaries of usability, restricted only by imagination. What began as a move from Personal Computers to Laptops a few years ago is leading to yet another seismic shift towards smartphones and tablet computers. The implication is clear: IT teams are increasingly getting requests from “IT user” communities to either expand the scope of computing devices that are approved for Personal (and Professional) computing at work. Most organizations still dictate a narrow array of devices that can be hooked to corporate networks for ‘business’ use.

Enterprise Architects, responsible for spearheading (and gate keeping) technology standards are coming to grips with the implications. However, for EA’s it is not just usability or “coolness factor” we have to weigh in while evaluating this push towards open computing. Security (of course), Support, Upgrades and updates, Integration and extensibility are just a few dimensions to evaluate while formulating an approach for corporate rollout.

 Traditionally, IS teams have been responsible for support of hardware, software and infrastructure required by ‘users’. This division of labor suited everyone well. Non-IT users could focus on their core competence - be it sales teams out in the field or bank tellers or reservation agents or nurses at hospitals monitoring patient records. For most system issues, users would call the IS help-desk that either walks them through the problem resolution or sends someone onsite to help. Service Level and Operating Level Agreements (SLAs/OLAs) were well defined and understood. By opting for personal choice of computing device, there are a few scenarios that begin emerge:

Scenario 1: Laissez faire Cafeteria style buy-and-bring-your-own-device to work. In this model, users will have to take on ‘personal responsibility’ for problem resolution for the devices they opt to acquire. For example, I opt to bring in an iPad to work (instead of my office issued HP/Dell/Whatever Wintel laptop) and just before an important client presentation, I encounter a problem with wifi and network access that I am unable to troubleshoot. Turns out it is a hardware problem for which I cannot call my IS tech support. I have to get in touch with Apple’s help desk and work through the issue.

Scenario 2: Expand scope of support with levels of service: IS team extends a list of “supported” systems to include emerging genera of desktops, tablets and handhelds. To control costs, one could contemplate level-of-service for device classes. For example currently serviced Windows desktops/laptops would get a “Platinum level” service that includes hardware, operating system and application support, Mac OS devices would get a “Gold level” service level and so on.

There are several other scenarios besides one can analyze but before that a few critical questions one would need the business users to answer: 

• How much of “ownership” is the typical business user willing to take in a Laissez faire model?
• What is the total cost(to organization) to be able to expand support and service levels for “All” devices - current and emerging?

Other interesting links on the topic

• Corporate users make the iPad connection -FT  
• Ready for work- Apple “Get secure access to email, calendar, and contacts via Exchange ActiveSync or open standards like IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV. With support for IPSec and SSL VPN and WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi, users can also connect to private corporate networks.”
• iPad at Work: The Essential Guide for Business Users
• Kindle Fire Presents Challenges and Concerns for Corporate IT