iPads run amok: Does your company need a tablet policy?

Computerworld - When RehabCare executives started asking IT for the Apple iPad several months back, CIO Dick Escue didn't skip a beat.

Unlike many of his peers in the healthcare industry, he had no real qualms about security, despite the specter of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Nor did he have misgivings about users loading up the devices with personal stuff like photos and music. As for worries about putting an additional support burden on his IT staff -- according to Escue, not a problem.

While these concerns have other IT shops scrambling, the RehabCare team was well ahead of the game. Thanks to a widespread deployment of the Apple iPhone a couple of years back, the company had a formal deployment strategy for the iPad and, potentially, for other emerging tablets.

Rather than trying to ban mobile units or deploy them haphazardly, RehabCare's IT group implemented new corporate policies and standardized on mobile management technologies that opened doors for the iPhone, and now the iPad, to participate in the enterprise in a secure, centrally managed fashion.

Based on this prior experience with the Apple iPhone, Escue was already well aware that users, not the IT department, are rapidly becoming the driving force behind new technology adoption -- a trend some call the consumerization of IT. (For more on the "bring your own technology movement," see Computerworld's recent video chat with Carfax CTO Gary Lee.)

"There was a time when work was where you got new technology, but that day is over thanks to unbounded innovation in the consumer technology world," explains Escue, who heads up technology efforts for RehabCare, a nationwide operator of acute care and rehabilitation hospitals.

With the recent introduction of the iPad 2, Motorola Xoom, RIM PlayBook, and new versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, tablet mania is taking the enterprise by storm.

Gartner estimates that 69.8 million media tablets will be shipped in 2011, and analysts and forward-thinking tech managers say it's time for IT execs to do more than simply take notice of that surge.

As with the iPhone before it, the iPad is cropping up in all corners of the enterprise, brought in by C-level execs, sales folks and worker bees who purchased the device for personal use and, now hooked, are hungry to use it on the job.

Regardless of whether staffers work on their own tablets or are given corporate-issued gear, the influx means IT needs a systematic approach for managing, tracking, securing and supporting these devices, just like they do for any other corporate computing platform.

At a recent Computerworld Premier 100 event, Gary Lee from Carfax chats with technologies editor Johanna Ambrosio about the issues and challenges surrounding letting employees choose their own technology, including smartphones, tablets and even notebooks. This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

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Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

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Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

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Social-Media Policy Examples in Business

Social-media marketing (SMM) is one of the latter stages of the process of creating and implementing an overall Internet-marketing strategy, but that does not make it any less important.

As we often write, the general philosophy of all marketing — online or traditional — in for-profit companies is to maximize the number of relevant leads and then direct them to the sales department. The principle has remained the same even though the tactics may change — but with one important difference.

The process of maximizing leads in online marketing involves attracting as much relevant traffic to a website from which people will purchase a product, click on an advertising banner, or perform some other desired action. As such, the point is that the website itself needs to be optimized as well as attractive and engaging as possible before the traffic arrives through search-engine marketing (SEM) and SMM. If a person visits the site and sees that it is unattractive and unprofessional, he will never return (and be less likely to “convert” in the first place).

We have addressed the basics of search-engine optimization (SEO) and SEM in other places, so here we will address social-media policy examples. This will become more important as Google begins to incorporate social-media postings in search results (see “SMM — Art of Social-Media Marketing in Google“). After a website is constructed, it will be just as important to perform SMM in an effective, ethical way. First, the general principles:

SMM must incorporate your desired branding. Just as the general marketing-strategy must support the chosen business-strategy, so must social-media policies reflect the overall marketing-strategy. SMM is a crucial way to reinforce your selected branding. If you are a university, then your Facebook and Twitter posts will likely be serious and link to academic writings. If you are selling music to tweens and teens, then your updates will probably include “text-message spelling” (“what r u up 2?”) and jokes in an informal style. And so on.SMM cannot be micromanaged. Traditional communications involves the sending of a smaller number of items like lengthy essays, press releases, and white papers. Each can be edited beforehand since the time-frame allows. However, social-media communications involve the sending of short messages (posts, tweets, and blog articles) very often — sometimes multiple times every few hours. If the marketing manager would review each one beforehand, then he would turn into a bottleneck and decrease the department’s efficiency. The person who is directly responsible for the marketing should be able to send the messages directly and without prior approval (as long as he knows the general policies and goals). The manager should review the communications in general once in a while and then provide feedback as warranted.SMM must be as authentic as possible. To some degree, nearly all marketing communications are inauthentic because they are written or produced in ways to suit the mentalities, needs, and desires of the targeted customers. It is not an objective articles like one would find in a objective newspapers. However, there is a debate among online marketers as to whether active, intentional deception is ethical. (See “SEM Preparation: Social Media, Twitter, Fake Personas.”) In the aforementioned teenage-music example, a company’s Twitter account may “be” a teenage kid — complete with a “name,” “picture,” and so on — to appeal to that customer base. But is this wrong? Policies need to be written to address the use of these strategies.SMM needs to address negative feedback. At some point, it is guaranteed that people like dissatisfied customers or unscrupulous competitors will post things you do not like on your Facebook page or addressed to you on Twitter. How should you respond? Ideally, social-media outlets can be an effective tool for customer service and market research. Someone may post on your Facebook page, “I used your product, and it broke after three days. Can I get a replacement?” And you can respond easily and cheaply (rather than by taking the time of customer-service representatives). But those people who develop a grudge against your company — rightly or not — may start harassing your company through posting negative items constantly. You need to develop a policy before this occurs.

These are just a few of the social-media marketing principles that form the foundation of effective outreach. However, it is important to develop policies alongside an overall strategy. For more information on specific social-media policy examples in companies and organizations that incorporate these principles, I recommend the sites here, here, and here for your own research.

Related: How SMM, Social-Media Guidelines Changed Advertising