The Apple iPhone has arguably had the most successful launch of any smartphone. Despite its limitations, the excitement and interest generated by this device has made Apple the envy of other smartphone manufacturers.
Although the iPhone was released as a consumer device, a surprising number of people are purchasing iPhones for business use. The factors that have made the iPhone so successful in the consumer market -- ease of use, attractive user interface, superb integration with companion services -- also make it attractive to the business market, traditionally the domain of the BlackBerry and smartphones from traditional mobile phone manufacturers like Nokia.
The biggest problem that iPhone users face in a corporate setting is getting access to their corporate email. Corporate email and personal email run on different systems. While the latter tends to run on publicly-accessible mail servers, corporate email is usually protected behind firewall systems, beyond the normal reach of the iPhone. As well, corporate email runs on systems like Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes, which are accessed differently from personal email servers.
One way to get your corporate email on your iPhone is to have copies of any mail you receive at the company email address automatically forwarded to your personal email address. How you do this depends on the email system you're using, but it's usually fairly straightforward to setup. It's far from an ideal solution, however, because any replies you make to the emails come from your personal email account. Nor are the replies archived in the corporate system, unless you remember to CC your company address when you reply. You also don't get access to all the ancillary information and features of the corporate system, such as access to appointment calendars and company address books.
A far better solution is to engage your IT department and get them to add the iPhone to their list of officially supported smartphones. There are a number of solutions available on the market for integrating the iPhone with corporate email servers, including software from leading enterprise vendors like Sybase, Apple and IBM. Convince them it's in the company's best interest to support the iPhone, especially in situations where corporate email must be archived for regulatory and compliance purposes.
The knee-jerk reaction is to simply ban the use of iPhones in corporate environments. This may work as a corporate policy, but employees won't be happy having a second smartphone to deal with, especially if it's a clunky device when compared to an iPhone. Before going that route, have the company explore the alternatives and see how easy it is to integrate the iPhone into their existing email system. It's been done before with the BlackBerry, so why not support the iPhone as well?
Although the iPhone was released as a consumer device, a surprising number of people are purchasing iPhones for business use. The factors that have made the iPhone so successful in the consumer market -- ease of use, attractive user interface, superb integration with companion services -- also make it attractive to the business market, traditionally the domain of the BlackBerry and smartphones from traditional mobile phone manufacturers like Nokia.
The biggest problem that iPhone users face in a corporate setting is getting access to their corporate email. Corporate email and personal email run on different systems. While the latter tends to run on publicly-accessible mail servers, corporate email is usually protected behind firewall systems, beyond the normal reach of the iPhone. As well, corporate email runs on systems like Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes, which are accessed differently from personal email servers.
One way to get your corporate email on your iPhone is to have copies of any mail you receive at the company email address automatically forwarded to your personal email address. How you do this depends on the email system you're using, but it's usually fairly straightforward to setup. It's far from an ideal solution, however, because any replies you make to the emails come from your personal email account. Nor are the replies archived in the corporate system, unless you remember to CC your company address when you reply. You also don't get access to all the ancillary information and features of the corporate system, such as access to appointment calendars and company address books.
A far better solution is to engage your IT department and get them to add the iPhone to their list of officially supported smartphones. There are a number of solutions available on the market for integrating the iPhone with corporate email servers, including software from leading enterprise vendors like Sybase, Apple and IBM. Convince them it's in the company's best interest to support the iPhone, especially in situations where corporate email must be archived for regulatory and compliance purposes.
The knee-jerk reaction is to simply ban the use of iPhones in corporate environments. This may work as a corporate policy, but employees won't be happy having a second smartphone to deal with, especially if it's a clunky device when compared to an iPhone. Before going that route, have the company explore the alternatives and see how easy it is to integrate the iPhone into their existing email system. It's been done before with the BlackBerry, so why not support the iPhone as well?
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