With the continued trend of “bring your own device” (BYOD) in the workplace, iOS 7 will likely mean lots of opportunities for enterprise-focused cloud operators like Salesforce.com (CRM). But of course, expect tremendous innovation from startups as well.
So to get some insight on all of this, I reached out to various tech operators. Here’s what they had to say:
Chase Curtiss, CEO & Founder, Sway Medical
"The use of personal devices in a hospital setting is one of the biggest hurdles to medical mobile technology adoption. How do I avoid needing to carry two devices to meet HIPAA security standards? The per-app VPN feature will allow much more seamless and secure integration of personal devices into the hospital data systems -- helping physicians to review PHI, at any moment, to improve the speed of clinical decision making. It is no longer a pager or text to call in, its real time data streamed to a physician's personal device to make critical decisions right now."
Vineet Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, Egnyte
"As the enterprise continues to evolve around the BYOD trend and we rely more on our mobile work force, Apple's addition of key features like 'Managed Open In' and 'Airdrop' will help them to align better with mobile device management (MDM) strategies and become a viable enterprise option."
Avinoam Nowogrodski, founder & CEO, Clarizen
"Apple's iOS 7 addresses the need enterprises have for a higher level of collaboration between workers in disparate locations. The fact that mobile content can be shared securely via the cloud, with AirDrop, will be a key selling point for enterprise users. The 'notification center' and 'multitasking' features also enable constant collaboration among workers, which should help increase productivity. The 'office' of today spans time zones, geographies and generations, with many employees working in different locations and using their own devices (BYOD). These workers need anytime, anywhere access to information, and they need to be able to share it quickly and easily -- project updates, budget reports, or whatever they need to get the job done."
David Lloyd, CEO, IntelliResponse
“iOS delivered a critical feature to smartphone users when it introduced Siri. Consumers were conditioned to dislike virtual assistants like Clippy and Ask Jeeves, but Siri’s ability to more intelligently perform actions in iOS has helped re-define what is possible in the consumer's mind. The enterprise is beginning to take note given consumer's growing expectations around virtual assistants and we’re seeing rapid adoption of intelligent self-service technology in mobile apps to help people quickly resolve their customer service issues such as finding a debit card transaction with their bank or get price comparisons from their insurance provider. With iOS 7, there is a continued move toward the expectation of a ‘personalized’ experience.”
Tom Taulli is the author of How to Create the Next Facebook: Seeing Your Startup Through, from Idea to IPO. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli.
