BlackBerry, Next Steps, and You

RIM, the Canadian maker of Blackberry’s collection of hardware and enterprise servers (BES), once propped up the market as the backbone of modern mobile device management. But now, as the result of its much publicized and theorized downturn, companies who have solely relied on Blackberry equipment  may soon find themselves on their backs without a way to call out for help.

To most enterprises, it would seem silly (not to mention financially infeasible) to turn their entire mobile armada into the wind of every new and exciting mobility trend, especially at the current rate of development inside of the mobile industry. But what if your current, dependable enterprise mobility set-up is showing signs of imminent collapse? How quickly must IT act and what are the consequences of not acting quickly enough?

Gartner, the respected analyst firm, released this grave judgment of Blackberry recently:

“[We] recommend that our [BlackBerry enterprise] clients take no more than six months to consider and implement alternatives to BlackBerry. We’re emphasizing that all clients should immediately ensure they have backup mobile data management plans and are at least testing alternative devices to BlackBerry. ”

With this (maybe overly) dire prognosis, Gartner has gone on to give Blackberry-backed companies little choice other than a nuclear-like option-set: contain or ditch. This advice may appeal to some but it’s not likely to be the most helpful wisdom to engage within the real world of the enterprise, the real world where that aforementioned mobile armada is a hulking strategic inventory.

Despite opinions on the degree of panic needed to react to Blackberry’s downturn, RIM is indeed a slow-leaking tire on the high-velocity vehicle of enterprise. The important questions are: when will a patch on that leak be applied and what will that patch look like? This seems to be where a majority of the uncertainty and even anxiety is coming from inside the industry. Companies who have relied solely on Blackberry’s services in the past and who refuse to quickly consider reshuffling or diversifying could certainly be in for some murky days ahead.

Amidst all of the doom and gloom though, there is still hope. We here at mindWireless do not hold such a catastrophic view as Gartner in terms of next steps for enterprises that use Blackberry. Know this: there are always options. If you are finding yourself entertaining conversations regarding these uncertain times with Blackberry we invite any and all dialogue on wise next steps. Put mindWireless’ decades of accrued wireless management wisdom to work for you and your business.

If this sounds like a conversation that you would like to have please contact mindWireless at

512-615-7600 or http://mindwireless.com/contact/.