Let’s hear it for another great day at HDI 2012! Thursday was packed with informative speaking sessions, educational demos from Bomgar solution engineers, and of course, entertaining magic tricks from the Bomgar magician. In case you couldn’t make it to some of the sessions, or spent all of your time watching magic tricks, here is my recap of the day.
Nathan McNeill, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Bomgar, jump started the day with a compelling presentation on securing remote support for the mobile enterprise. He made the point that networks are a lot like opera houses: they are designed to be pretty and polished on the outside, at least from the user’s/audience’s perspective. But when you get behind the scenes, you will find that there are secret passages everywhere. In regards to remote access and remote support, these “secret pathways” can pose a security risk to the enterprise.
Click here to check out a blog from Nathan on how to ensure your organization is secure.
Next, we heard from Michael Devaney, the director of support for Enterprise Mobile, who presented on the topic of mobility and the challenge it presents for the help desk. The use of iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, Androids, and ruggedized devices as mission-critical tools is increasing exponentially. Supporting these devices is challenging – different operating systems, applications, messaging, device management, and security are all factors that contribute to more complex end-user support. Devaney noted that mobile device support is inevitable; if companies are not experiencing it already – it’s coming! So what can IT do? Devaney suggests getting to know the culture of the users you are supporting and become familiar with the devices they are using. Mobile users are always on and always connected, resulting in an expectation to have issues fixed almost immediately. Devaney also advises equipping your support team with t
he tools required to support multiple devices, such as remote control products. Such products allow agents to troubleshoot, execute tasks, push updates, and manage configurations and more. This new challenge goes beyond traditional desktop and desk side support, so new processes and policies will also need to be implemented regarding who and what are you going to support.
Another one of Thursday’s hot topics was the future of technology. Chris Dancy, founder of ServiceSphere, says that we are already living in the future as our devices can now see, talk, and translate the world around us. Our instant link to knowledge gives today’s children access to more data than physicians had 15 years ago. One particularly interesting fact: in a single day in 2011, more data was created on the web than was created between 1995 and 2000. Wow.
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