KM and mobile devices

I watched a presentation by Clayton Grigg, CKO for the FBI on their knowledge management program. You can see this and a large number of the KM World presentations at:  http://www.kmworld.com/conference/2012/.

One point that came up during the question and answers was: How do you handle employees using off the shelf technology (i.e. moblile devices such as  I-Pads, smart phones …)? He made a couple of comments that include:

·         People will use this technology. You can’t stop it…

·         These systems are advancing rapidly and can be easier to use and powerful than network systems

·         Users are much more IT savvy and can bring new ideas from using these systems.

·         A big challenge is maintaining security.

·         The KM challenge is how to integrate off the shelf devices with your organization’s IT

The old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” rings true. I’ve heard from a number of utilities that they’ve started providing field crews with smart phones and/or I-Pads. By providing this technology and providing updates and training they can gain some level of control while providing technology to improve efficiency on the job.  

This point was reinforced as I was updating my website and got a message from GoDaddy (my web host) that my webpage was automatically updated to work on a mobile phone.