If employees are using their own smartphones and tablets for work whether they're allowed to or not, does it make sense for companies to set up app stores to provide business applications for the devices? Some industry experts caution that if companies don't go with the flow, employees will bypass the company's systems and figure out their own ways to access data on their personal devices, reports Paul McDougall at InformationWeek.

It may seem like throwing in the towel in the battle against the consumerization of IT, but developing a strategy with apps at the center may be the best way to deal with it. Workers may be more productive, morale may be higher and IT may earn a reputation as super helpful.

"There's an opportunity for IT to redefine itself as an enabler of success," said Michael Dortch, research director at Focus.

Experts caution that developing mobile-friendly versions of your business applications can be complicated, however, and these apps are unlikely to be as user-friendly as bona fide consumer apps. "There are complexities in CRM that means it's never going to be as easy as buying something on Amazon," said Jay Mellman, chief marketing officer at Rhomobile.

There are also security issues that go along with deploying business apps on personal devices. It's up to IT to strike the right balance between protecting critical data and making the applications user-friendly.

"If you make enterprise apps that don't suck you will have a much more productive workforce," said Cimarron Buser, vice president for product marketing at Apperian.

For more:
- see Paul McDougall's article at InformationWeek

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