Technology

There are many pro’s and con’s when actioning a Bring Your Own Device to work policy and these effect both employee and employer. When counting the cost of BYOD it is important to recognize both financial and psychological factors:

Productivity vs Stress

When BYOD systems are put in place it has been clearly demonstrated that productivity is increased. According to Cisco, the simple implementation of using a smartphone or tablet that is familiar to the employee leads to better productivity, saving on average 81 minutes of time performing tasks each week.

The workplace can be hectic during the month of January, especially given the fact that employees arrive back at work with their fancy new devices. New laptops, mobile devices, and smartphones are among common gifts given and received over the holidays. For companies that use a “Bring Your Own Device” system, this surge in technology changes can present some difficult challenges.

At the beginning of 2014, a lot of people predicted it would be the year wearable technology really broke through. The promises of Google Glass and rumors of Apple Watch exited us, and we could already see the success of things like fitness bands. However, as the year is coming to a close, we now realize we were a little presumptuous. In fact, we can’t even be sure 2015 will be the year for wearables. There’s a lot of promises and hype surrounding wearable devices, but a closer look at their current popularity leaves their future up for debate.

You better get used to paying with your phone. It’s already a popular method of making purchases in places like Japan and even some countries in Africa, but in the United States it hasn’t caught on quite as quickly. While so-called tap-to-pay methods have been around for a number of years already, Apple’s recent announcement of their own mobile payment service, called Apple Pay, has sent a new wave of excitement through the technology community.

You’ve probably heard of the Internet of Things (IoT) and how it’s set to completely transform the world. Some may view thguestis as an exaggerated take, but there’s little question that companies across the globe are taking an intense interest in it. The central concept of the IoT features tiny sensors and other machines that are all connected to the internet, allowing them to communicate with people as well as each other. Some experts are predicting that by the year 2020, there could be as many as 20 to 30 million items that are part of the Internet of Things.

What do we ask for? Consistency. What do we get from Consumer Cellular? More than a dozen ways to configure our Google Nexus 5 to their network. Unfortunately, many of those recommended settings don't work. Luckily, time is on our side. In the past 6 months Consumer Cellular and Nexus 5 owners have settled on APN settings that actually work properly on the Consumer Cellular network.

When Google announced in 2012 that they were bringing Google Fiber to Kansas City, my father called me and said he was interested. As an information technologist, I was excited. I told the “old man” that Google Fiber was going to change everything. Last month, Google Fiber finally came to my parents' neighborhood, and I made the six-hour drive to visit the house I grew up in.

A couple years ago, my wife and I took advantage of the post-housing bubble low interest rates and upgraded to a larger home. We came across a pre-owned house built in 2006 that came with the price, size, and style that just screamed to us "buy me".  As a family, we carefully reviewed our finances and listed our pros and cons before making the purchase. My wife and I were excited to finally have a bathroom connected to the master bedroom. Our then young son was excited that he finally had a family room that offered him fun and adventure. Secretly though, what sold me on the house had nothing to do with these things. What impressed me most was that this house had a network distribution panel.

What I want from tech vendors: "I need them to listen, learn and be honest and realistic about their capabilities. Many technology vendors are still more interested in selling than in listening to what our real challenges are."

- Steve Mills, CIO, Rackspace, CIO Profiles: Steve Mills Of Rackspace, InformationWeek, March 13, 2013

"So much ink has been spilled deriding the false concept of a "Facebook friend," but I can tell you that a "Facebook friend" is better than nothing."

- Paul Miller, I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet, The Verge, May 1, 2013.