Consumerization Talks at the Mobile World Congress 2012

My interview with Nelson Pereyra of bnetTV.com at the Showstoppers event during the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. BYOD, Consumerization and Mobile Security.

Nelson Pereyra:  Hello, I’m Nelson Pereyra from bnetTV. Welcome to Showstopper 2012 in Barcelona. And with us is Cesare Garlati, Senior Director of Mobile Security at Trend Micro. How are you doing, sir?

Cesare Garlati:  Very well, thank you for having me.

Nelson: And Trend Micro, great company, is one of the leading companies in the industry. And I have to say, what brings Trend Micro to this market in 2012, today?

Cesare: Trend Micro is here at the Mobile Word Congress 2012 to share insights and IT tools to cope with a very interesting IT trend, which is called bring your own device – or BYOD, which is part of the much broader Consumerization trend.

Nelson: And bring your own device, I mean, I always said to myself, I’m always bringing my own device, even if it’s my own personal device. And I associate it with work and other things. It seems to be that becoming a big trend.

Cesare: It is a big trend. It is already. We just ran a few surveys* on a global basis. And depending on the region in the world, I would say, generally, the vast majority of companies already allow end users – employees – to use their own mobile devices for work related activities.

Now, there are some differences there. United States, in North America, seems to be a little bit more advanced, and in fact, we have 82 percent of the companies already sharing this kind of new openness to consumer technology, while in Europe, it’s a little bit less relevant. And for Asia, it’s a little bit more conservative, so as to open up yet to all of this.

Nelson: I tend to agree very strongly with you on that. Because I am myself an example of that type of trend. Because the reality of it is that, if I’m given two phones, one for work and one that is personal, I tend to look at my personal phone more than I look at the one from work. But I like the idea that I can associate my work connection with my own personal phone, including email, calendar, etc.

Cesare: Absolutely. So, convenience is definitely one of the drivers. But there’s something more than that. Consumer technology is definitely very innovative and employees find it very easy to learn and procure – because it’s inexpensive.

So, convenience, inexpensive device, and also, the availability of content on this new platform. And when I say new platforms, I mean, consumer mobile platforms. Apple iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. These are the platforms that end users, employees, really want to use for their everyday activities. And it’s no surprise that then, as you said very well, you also would like to use it for work related activities.

Nelson: And I mean, it seems to be that is the future, and that’s where things are going. And the question is: how does the market capitalize in reference to having the ability with both consumers being able to tap into their own personal and work activity under the one platform?

Cesare: Right. So, from an enterprise perspective, this is definitely a challenge. Consumerization, and in particular BYOD, bring your own device, definitely, it’s a big issue. It is the lack of a strategic approach to Consumerization that creates security risks, financial exposure and management nightmare for IT.

So, risk is definitely there. Consumer platforms are sexy, are easy to use, but are definitely not as secure and as manageable as the enterprise would like them to be.

Nelson: I mean, to tell you the truth, this is the first time I’ve seen a company look into that platform. And I’m pretty sure Trend Micro will be right there to meet that demand.

Cesare: Well, we want to help enterprise and IT departments to get the most out of Consumerization. Consumerization brings clear business value. So, our solutions, and really, our thought leadership in this space, is intended to help organizations define and enforce flexible policies that would allow them to extract the full business benefit of Consumerization.

Nelson: What do you think of the trend for the new industry that’s coming right now? Like, do you see this industry being tapped in different directions and capitalized differently, since the consumer and the business enterprise are merging together?

Cesare: So, I think this is going to be the trend for the next 10 years. According to Gartner, in fact, Consumerization is the most relevant trend for the next 10 years.

I think that companies who can really embrace Consumerization will find great, great business value in terms of business agility and increased productivity. However, let’s not forget about the security and the management issue. Trend Micro is here to help companies make the most out of Consumerization.

Nelson: Thanks so much, Cesare, for spending time with us.

Cesare: Thank you for having me.

Nelson: And this was Cesare Garlati from Trend Micro. And I’m Nelson Pereyra from bnet TV at the Mobile World Congress, 2012. Thank you.

* Note: the Consumerization Report mentioned in this interview is available at https://bringyourownit.com/2011/09/26/trend-micro-consumerization-report-2011/

* Note: the two new studies mentioned above are part of the Consumerization Toolkit released by Trend Micro at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, 27 February – 1 March. More at http://www.trendmicro.co.uk/newsroom/pr/trend-micro-gold-sponsor-at-mobile-world-congress-2012/

* Credits: bnetTV.com 2012 – http://www.bnettv.com/trend-micro-cesare-garlati/