Jon: Welcome to episode 113 of The Digital Life, a show about our adventures in the world of design and technology. I'm your host Jon Follett, and with me today is special guest Suzie Livingston, a senior product manager for IBM's enterprise social software platform. Suzie, welcome to the show.

Suzie: Thanks for having me, Jon. It's a pleasure to be here.

Jon: Yeah, I'm so glad you could join us. This week, we're going to chat a little bit about the consumerization of enterprise software and the bring your own device trend, which is so prevalent today. This is a really unique time for the enterprise as Marc Andreessen put it, "software is eating the world," and that's nowhere else as true as it in the enterprise and day-to-day work of the knowledge worker, so there are a ton of interesting themes: user experience, security, productivity, designing for mobile first, etc., but let's dig in first with something that I think, Suzie, really dovetails well with your expertise, and I'd like to get your opinion on what factors product managers need to keep in mind as they're considering the ongoing consumerization of enterprise software.

Suzie: Ah, well, that's a great one to start off with. Jon, let me ask you a quick question. Do you use your mobile device to get your work done?

Jon: All the time. As much as possible.

Suzie: Oh, good. Is it your own mobile device, I presume?

Jon: It actually belongs to Involution, and I use it for a million phone calls, checking of email, you name it ... logging into base camp. There's an endless array of apps that I use to try to stay productive, especially when I'm on the road.

Suzie: Yeah, yep. Do you carry around two?

Jon: I have not been in that position where I needed to carry two phones, but I've definitely gone to conferences with a phone and a tablet or a phone and a laptop or a phone and a phablet, right, those really awkward-sized things that don't quite fit into a jacket pocket.

Suzie: Oh, yes, yes. A pain. You can imagine how fun it is for people to carry around multiple devices, especially when one of them has been dictated down to them. There's no straight answer when it comes to does a company go with BYOD or not. My company has. We've adopted this policy. It's been working out great for me. I love using my own device at work. There are some who prefer to have a company-provided device, but when it comes to product management in this space, we end up having to think about all of it. The types of companies who will support a BYOD policy, and the types of companies who won't. It does actually affect some of the ways in which we'll go about supporting devices, how we're going to design for devices, what we're going to put on those devices, and what people are experiencing with them. I think one way to kind of start with this question is to think about, well why are companies adopting BYOD policies, and why are they not.

I think for companies who are adopting them, they want ... there's this notion that if you are an employee of a company, and you're using your own device that you're going to be more productive. It seems to make logical sense. You have your own device that you are an expert at using. You know how to use it. You don't have to learn something different. You're going to keep that device up-to-date with new software because it's also your personal device, so maybe you want the latest security patches on your own device. You're going to be the expert at using it. You're going to use it for your pleasure as well as for your work, so maybe we'll get more time out of you if you're using your own personal device. I think, actually, Forrester had done some study last year where they anticipated about 45-60 minutes per week was the employee time savings gained from using your own device anytime, anywhere. There are certainly some notion that you could be a more productive employee if you're using your own device.