Enterprises Not Overlooked at MacWorld
ITWorld.com ran a story entitled "MacWorld: Enterprises Overlooked at Show." Could something so apparently obvious be wrong? It must be true, right, MacWorld had no big announcements about high end servers, scalable clusters or the other topics that make the back room server folks clear room in the racks for new hardware. Wrong - anyone who says there was nothing for the enterprise is missing a major, but subtle, shift in enterprise IT. The point is, the enterprise isn't just about the backroom hardware, it is also about the enterprise employees, customers and business partners accessing information from anywhere there is cell phone coverage.
To begin with, there was plenty about convergence with the iPhone, which promises wireless access and full featured access to Web applications (forget about supporting stripped down versions of Web interfaces for reduced functionality devices). The iPhone is also going to run a version of the Mac OS X (read a BSD-derived operating system) that is promising from a security perspective.
Putting an easy to use information access device in the hands of potential customers will change how enterprises do business. How many of us have come to expect 24/7 customer support? That was unheard of decades ago but improvements in telecommunications and changes in business practices raised the bar for companies looking to attend to their customer's needs. How will constant, ubiquitous access to information change customer's expectations?
The iPhone won't change business by itself but it is step along the evolutionary path we are on. Whether we are looking back down that path at where we've been or looking ahead will determine whether or not we see something for the enterprise in this week's trade shows.
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