| | JUNE 201519CIOReviewI remember getting my first smartphone, a Palm Treo. It didn't take long to realize how life altering it was. No more walking into the office in the morning with a pile of problems sitting in my inbox. Now I could check those e-mails and be ahead of the challenges, and I could do it from anywhere whenever I wanted. Then came the games. But that's a whole other story.All of us can recall similar experiences, where having information at our fingertips on our terms has altered our lives. Mostly for the good. The phenomenon we refer to as the consumerization of IT disrupted our work/life balance, how we manage IT systems, how we feel about instant notifications, the user experience with software, and how fast we expect change in technology.The fast and rapid tsunami of the consumerization of IT hit us in the corporate offices, but that wave never seemed to make it to our trucks. But the tide is about to change. The proliferation of consumer devices is coming to the truck and companies that are able to catch the wave early will be the big winners.Why is consumerization coming to the truck? Because the same factors that disrupted the old model of corporate IT, are still in place for carriers that deploy mobile communications (Mobilecom) for their drivers. There are 3 reasons consumerization of the truck is imminent.First, historically Mobilecom technology advanced in decades instead of yearly. Trucks today are still being outfitted with closed systems that are purpose built by and for the vendor. Integration with other vendors is scarce. I've had 8 different generations of smartphones since 2002, out of the hundreds to choose from. Each one came with better, faster processors and hundreds of new apps. Phones come out so furiously that after a year, a phone seems old and ready for replacement. In that same time period, Mobilecom vendors making closed devices delivered 1 or 2 generations, depending on the vendor.Think back in the history of computing, and you'll be hard pressed to name a single closed system that remained viable when competing with an open system. I can't. The technologies that win the battle for dollars have been ones that foster easier ways to exchange data and simplify integration with other systems. Most Mobilecom technology still sits within closed systems.That will THE CONSUMERIZATIONOF THE TRUCKBy Cory D.Staheli, CIO, Trans-SystemCIOINSIGHT
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