Clorox expands mobile options to staff, doesn't burst into flames
Last week Computerworld's Lucas Mearian wrote about some interesting IT choices at Clorox.
What I find especially interesting is the possibility that various CIOs and IT managers are looking at opening their hardware offerings to more end-user choice, especially in mobile devices.
"If you believe demographic studies, the workforce in their 20s and 30s isn't going to accept black corporate PCs with black corporate mobile phones and not be allowed to run Facebook or Angry Bird apps," he said.
Loura was among many CIOs and IT managers at SNW who said they're facing the same issue -- employees want to use mobile technology at work, leaving IT with the job of ensuring that the devices and the data on them remain secure.
As a result, Loura refit Clorox's employees with HP laptops to replace their old Windows 2k desktops and moved all mobile off of Blackberry and to the user's choice of iOS, Android, or Windows 7 Phone. They provide these various options while maintaining the data security standards required by the enterprise.
I've worked in both large and small operations and my experience had always fallen in line with the stereotype: the big boys lock things down and don't tolerate questions while small companies let their people choose their tools and keep access open when possible.
It looks like there are CIOs challenging that stereotype. What would really blow my mind is seeing full on Devops in larger enterprises.
That would be a world to live in.