by Jonathan Dale, Fiberlink

I remember days past when I longed to have a BlackBerry. I would see executives and directors carrying their BlackBerry devices all the time. They always had their heads down looking like they were doing something important. Hey, what’s more important than reading their email while walking to the break room?

Back then, I so wished to have one. To be able to read my mail anytime of the day or night. At lunch, while in meetings, or just to pass the time in the bathroom.  Sadly, no one offered me one. I knew I was perceived as not important enough to the company for them to spend the extra monthly cash. That did not stop me from asking a few times. Most of the time I was told, “You don’t want one of these.” (I read my email all time as it is, morning, noon, and night; why would I not want one?) Other times I would hear, “Be careful what you ask for” (still not buying it). Then management threw me a curve and stated, “You do not travel enough to merit one”. (That would have been fine, but other people had them and did not travel).

Finally, one day I got a straight answer:

Director: You want a BlackBerry?

Me: Yes!

Director:  Are you willing to give up 20% of your bonus for one?

Me: No!

And that, my friends, was the last time I asked.

Looking at it now, that was only 4-5 years ago. From a company standpoint, it was purely cost driven. The cost of giving one to an employee did not appear to equal the return for said employee. It had nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, to do with them not wanting employees getting email 24×7 in a more convenient way.

“You don’t want one of these.” – Everyone wanted one at the time.

“Be careful what you ask for.” – As if anyone would mind if I were responding to email more quickly or being more productive.

“You don’t travel enough.” – You are right, however there are other uses for it outside of travel.  Maybe the folks who had them at the time should only have used them while traveling and not in the office.

In 2011 we are in a world of equals as it relates to receiving email on handheld devices. Naturally, some are doing it on corporate provided devices, others on personally owned devices, and still others fork out the dollars for the hardware while their company pays the monthly plan. Heck, we are now not even limited to BlackBerry devices. We can choose the latest and greatest models from Apple or the slew of manufacturers using the Android platform. Yes, we have the power to choose.

Yeah! Everyone gets corporate emails 24x7x365! I don’t hear anyone complaining about it either. No longer the struggle between the poor and privileged classes.  Everyone is important enough to have their heads down while walking through the hall. I’m glad the days of jealousy are over for me.

Wait, was that what’s-his-name with an iPad?

MaaS360 exists in the cloud to offer solutions for the cloud. Learn more about MaaS360 Cloud-Based Enterprise Mobility Management.
Download the MDM Data Sheet.