The Standardization Wars

Pushing standardization too overtly may raise user hackles (it feels oppressive), and when it comes to deploying mobile and wireless devices, CIOs need to pick their battles carefully. The risk of alienating users (who, if frustrated, will try to go around IT with their own devices) is high. “You need to find a balance between minimizing the support costs and making your people happy and cooperative,” Entner says.

CIOs Bonner, Killeen, Novak and Intelsat’s Joe Kraus have all standardized on their laptop offerings—there’s no choice permitted there. “It allows us to eliminate one variability in the mobile device environment,” says Kirkland & Ellis’s Novak.

But for cell phones and smart phones, these CIOs offer options. For Novak, his strategy takes into account the realities of his industry. His law firm’s partners work with many clients, who have differing technology needs. So he tells his users what he can support now, letting them know that IT will do its best to work with the partners on any new device that they may need to use with a client. In return, he asks that his users let him know if they’re using a device that he hasn’t authorized. “What you don’t know will come back to haunt you, so we’re much more proactive,” Novak says. “We set expectations that IT is an open-minded organization.”

Right now, the firm officially supports BlackBerry devices, but Novak still provides limited support for Palm and Windows CE devices necessitated by attorney-client requirements. However, Palm and Windows CE users don’t necessarily get all the functionality of the BlackBerry. Right now, there’s no Palm and Windows CE device for

e-mail access that is supported by the firm. “You’re always seeing the latest and greatest technologies,” Novak says. “But what we’ve rallied around is standardization of what we can support.”

UPS’s Killeen has pushed hard on standards for the past several years, after spending years with none and hooking everyone’s PDA into their Outlook e-mail application if they so desired. “What happens is that when there are problems, it’s a support nightmare for those company devices that aren’t really company devices,” Killeen says. He now supports BlackBerrys and Treos, and employees can either buy their own or, if it’s a part of their job, UPS buys it for them. “Devices will change constantly,” Killeen says. “And we don’t want to be in the device business.”

For his tens of thousands of cell phones, Killeen and other CIOs take a firmer approach. “People at UPS cannot purchase a cell phone unless they come through us,” he says. “My organization has established contracts with carriers, and everybody’s got to abide by us.”