Yesterday I had the chance to be a part of the Mobile and Social Product Summit panel at Knowledge 12 hosted by Dan Turchin (@dturchin on Twitter), and a strange thing happened. We didn’t really address any part of “mobile.” I honestly think this was a great injustice and the only way to right this wrong is to write-up a blog article.

As fantastic as social IT/social media is, it’s really not as powerful without the mobile aspect. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Live Feed in S***-**w will be the future of how we interface with ITSM (as Fred Luddy demonstrated), but making such services available on mobile devices increases the power and productivity several times over. It’s kind of like BASF – it doesn’t make social IT, it makes it better. But I bet you’re wondering, why should you or I care? The answer is simple; the world is moving towards mobility. Like millions of other people out there, I access my social streams through my iPhone. I can name a number of reasons why; convenience, ease of use, web filters at work, FOMO (fear of missing out), etc., etc. My point is that social media for me is something I want available 24/7/365 (that means when it’s a Leap Year, I do disconnect). Even if I’m not actively accessing my social networks, I still want to have the warm comfy feeling knowing that I can do so any time and, if someone wants to communicate directly with me, they know I’ll respond in a timely manner.

OK, so we’re all moving towards mobility, but why should that matter when everything can move with it? Our operating systems are being designed for it, email went mobile long ago, and applications have been developed so our mobile devices (phones and tablets) can function almost as well as a computer. In this case, let me throw out another thought – mobility needs social IT just as much as social IT needs to go mobile. I love my iDevices, but they’re still not at 100% with replacing my computer. The reasons are many; screen size, interface, lack of apps for certain programs, webpage incompatibilities…you get the idea. But when it comes to my social networks, they look nice and are easy to use. In fact, I prefer these interfaces over the desktop/webpage alternatives. Now that we established that I like the interface, what if I can then access incidents, problems and knowledge through it? In fact, not only could I access information, but what if I could then add to it? In this case, the social stream is now acting as my gateway to the ITSM world. The immediacy of the information on my mobile device can let me see what’s going on in real-time, and through that interface, I could then react accordingly.

At this stage in the game, I think it’s safe to say we’re heading towards a future in which the only personal computing device a person will own is their phone. On the same token, that same device will be a portal to social communication that allows us to work more effeciently then what’s possible today. So social IT and mobility are in a relationship that, for better or worse, requires them to evolve together. This marriage was shown at Knowledge 12 and all I can say is please, for the love of all that is holy, I really hope S***-**w hurries up with the mobile/social IT platform. One day, it’ll be the only platform we use anyway.

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Started working in IT in 1999 as a support desk analyst as a way to help pay for food during college. Studied Electrical Engineering for two years before realizing biochemistry was more fun than differential equations, and so ultimately graduated with a Biology degree in 2006. Having (reluctantly) failed at getting accepted into dental school, embraced working in IT and has gone broke becoming an ITIL Expert. Likes to jog, sing camp songs, quote Mel Brooks movie lines and make dumb jokes and loves working for an Israeli tech company where December 25th is a regular work day.