General discussion
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Topic
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enfranchising wireless cowboys
LockedHi. My name is Carl Weinschenk, and I’m a writer for Tech Republic. I’m working on a story that I thought I’d seek comment on.
A management source I have interviewed at length lays out the following: The proliferation of things wireless–from PDAs to easy-to-throw up hot spots–has encouraged folks to bring an ever-increasing amount of unauthorized gear into the enterprise. These early adopters are usually good at hiding the expense in their T&E reports and are reluctant to give up gadgets and networks they like and feel they benefit by. They don’t particularly care that these things create security and other hassles.
His answer is to enfranchise these early adopters. He suggests flushing them out (by carefully going over their T&Es), talking to them and explaining, for instance, that the unauthorized WiFi they threw up may compromise important data. Moreover, he says that their input should be encouraged and worked into official policies.
These folks, he says, actually aretechnology leaders, in a way, and should be treated that way.
I’d be very interested in any input from TR members.
Thanks, Carl Weinschenk