I think as Information Professionals we are constantly negotiating the lines between convenience and control. On the one hand we want users, including ourselves, to be able to do work in the most efficient and effective manner possible. But sometimes that means compromising control.
Most people are focused on getting their work done and will resort to any means necessary to achieve the end goal. Taking factors such as deadlines and portable devices into consideration raises challenges about how to impart some IM control measures to a workforce that wants to be mobile with access to everything all the time.
In our quest to achieve control to monitor usage, enforce security, and mitigate risk, do we make the flow of information so onerous and complicated that many users would bypass our carefully created precautions to just get the work done? When I’m working as an Information Professional there are recommendations and standards I enforce that as a user, I find really tedious and cumbersome. A few examples include filling in document metadata fields, moving documents around, clicking through multiple layers of folders to save a document in the right place, or going through the proper channels to share work rather than just uploading it to a service like Dropbox. I do them because I understand the benefits behind the efforts and the rational for doing so, but I can’t help but wonder if sometimes we require users to do things that we wouldn’t be willing to do.
DropBox offers a super easy and effective way to share files with others or between devices. However, DropBoxes can be difficult to monitor and are often used for mixed personal and professional uses. If DropBox is used in your organization, how do you set standards & guidelines for your users? How do you enforce them? How do you know if employees are using DropBox?
BYOD – It is now possible to have one device handle multiple tasks such as taking pictures, sending emails, accessing work or personal documents to read & edit, surfing the net, etc. Since one device offers so many capabilities, I’m assuming that most people don’t want to carry around separate devices for professional and personal uses. As a result, many companies have started to introduce BYOD policies to work. In some ways this is a smart move because it would be virtually impossible to monitor every employee’s devices to ensure proper usage. By embracing this trend the hope is that employees will have guidelines on how to use their personal devices safely in a professional setting.
My current job does not have a BYOD policy so technically I can’t use my own device, but I’m not sure I would be penalized if I did. I must admit I’ve become so accustomed to taking notes on my smartphone, that it feels quite alien to walk around the office carrying a notebook. Even if I did use my smartphone, I’m not sure I want to have work on it. I like the idea of keeping personal and professional separated, though I find this has become more challenging with the introduction of smartphones and tablets.