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On Wednesday, March 13 at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT, @eWEEKnews will host its third Tweetchat event. The topic will be “BYOD and the Future of Work.” It will be moderated by yours truly, who serves as eWEEK’s editor of features and analysis.
Some quick facts:
Topic: “”BYOD and the Future of Work.”
Date/time: March 13 at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. GMT
Hosted by: @eWeekNews
Moderator: Chris Preimesberger: @editingwhiz
Tweetchat handle: Use #eWeekChat to follow/participate in the chat
Chatroom link: http://tweetchat.com/room/eweekchat
The bring your own device (BYOD) trend has only just begun, according to a “Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends” report from Forrester Research.
BYOD is generally defined as employees choosing the personal connected devices they use for work—whether a smartphone, tablet, laptop or other device. For those who instead define BYOD as employees paying for their devices, Forrester said, “then we may be reaching the crossover point where your company pays for more smartphones than employees do.”
BYOD Trend Is Taking Off
The researcher interviewed nearly 10,000 information workers around the world and found the number of “any time, anywhere workers”—those using three or more devices, working from multiple locations and using many apps—to have risen from 23 percent in 2011 to 29 percent in 2012. Further, with tablet use for work and home expected to triple to 905 million units by 2017, “the any time, anywhere work trend is just getting started,” said the report.
What this means is that enterprises need to prepare, and a good start is building “a very deep marketing understanding of who your employees are and what they use technology for.”
This is a good part of what we will discuss in next Wednesday’s eWEEKchat. Talking points also may include which devices you most use for personal AND corporate business; advantages of one type (say smartphones) over another (say laptops); and how the organizations for which you work are handling BYOD—especially regarding access and security.
We also will discuss the advantages/disadvantage of using corporate virtual desktops on personal devices.
How a Tweetchat Works
For a bit of background, here’s how a Tweetchat works:
Who: All those interested in the topic who also have a Twitter ID.
What: A Tweetchat is an online conversation held at a prearranged time following a specific hashtag. In eWEEK’s case, we will be using #eWeekChat for all or most of our Tweetchats. Chatroom link: http://tweetchat.com/room/eweekchat
When: Wednesday, March 13 at 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time/2 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. GMT.
Where: The chat can be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #eWeekChat. A link to the recap (so you can see a record of what everybody Tweeted) will be posted on this blog the following Friday, March 15.
Why: The whole idea is to facilitate additional industry dialogue and provide a forum for questions, idea sharing and problem solving. We also want your input on what you’d like to discuss during future chats, so please leave a comment on this post or tweet @eweeknews with topic ideas.
Participants will be able to ask questions of eWEEK staff members and special guests or simply add their thoughts to the conversation. The only restrictions are that we stay on topic and that you say what you need to say succinctly (in 140 characters or less).
You may not have participated in a Tweetchat previously. They generally move pretty fast, but you can learn a lot. We’ll also post a record of all the comments so that you can refer to it afterward. Here’s the compilation of our last Tweetchat from Feb. 13 on Storify.
Questions, Answers Are Numbered
Please note that to maintain a semblance of order, please prefix your question or comment with the number of the question we are currently discussing. As an example, the moderator may post: “Q1: Do you use your personal tablet or smartphone for business on a regular basis, and does that concern you in any way?”
To which you might answer: “A1: Yes, I do, and it’s very convenient for me. But since I work for the CIA, I probably ought to tell my boss that I’m doing this.”
eWEEK’s first two Tweetchats in January and February were both resounding successes, with an average of six to seven Tweets per minute during each 60-minute time frame. If you do the math, that’s about 350 tweets in the single hour. The action is fast, but lots of good information invariably is contributed.
A Tweetchat is a venue that is easy to use on any type of device, too. By the way, did you know that eWEEK is the only mainstream IT trade publication that has specific apps for Android and iOS devices?
Hope to connect with you March 13, and use your collaboration network to tell your friends. Let’s have fun with this.