[ommoran]

Hi folks,

So I've been using a Z10 since March, and I struggle with Blackberry Balance. I struggle with it quite a lot, because it is so limited - perhaps just in my company's implementation.

My work profile is open all the time, it's just easier. I get texts that are work related constantly, and am frustrated by the inability to copy and paste text between work and what is arbitrarily determined to be "personal".

However, the single biggest flaw in the implementation is with respect to contacts. This is so botched that it borders on ridiculous. I'm sure many folks, like me, have been Blackberry users for years. Many of us therefore have been on a BES for a long time, and have been using Outlook or a corporate e-mail program for their primary communication and scheduling tool on the desktop.

This is where 15 years of my contacts reside. There. In my "work side". Which, if locked, my car can't talk to. Nor my BT headset. If locked, I can't email someone I know from work from my personal e-mail account. And it gets worse.

If I move companies, fine - I get that they can wipe the phone. That means they wipe my contacts? Seriously? Ok, so I export a CSV file. But now because of this my contacts are completely screwed up and some of my work contacts are actually stored on my personal side - which in my case is on my SIM card.

Seriously, folks. Make this easy. Store all contacts into one location, not split by work and personal. Please. Let it sync all the information up to my contacts folder on Outlook so that I have it available. If I need to call someone from work I will just as often search their number on my laptop - and now that is becoming sketchy because many contacts aren't there.

Balance is smart for some things - contacts isn't one of them.

[howarmat]

Moved to the Balance forum for some better eyes

[Frank Castle]

It sounds like your BES Admin needs to check the policies enforced for "work" data. There is one that allows work data to function with RIM Apps which will likely fix much of your issues.

The rest of your post is one I deal with all the time and and users don't understand.

If you put your personal contact information into say Outlook at your company. It's not personal. It's now a corporate record and flagged as such so Blackberry is doing what it's supposed to do with the data. Just because you decided to put personal data into a corporate system doesn't make it "yours". You'd likely be better moving all your personal contacts to another email system so you have true separation.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Your frustrations with Balance are two fold. One, you are thinking it is like the previous incarnation of devices. Two, your BES Admin has limited your use of it. Balance is designed to keep things very separate, but also the ability to have it viewable in a single location. Your BES admin has removed this ability, which is why it seems terrible for you in terms of contacts. They can allow BlackBerry applications (include phone, etc) to view your work contacts even when locked.

[ommoran]

If I store that information in a single database, for the sake of expediency, sure it is my data. My company provides me with my phone. They allow it for both personal and business use, including installing apps and use of, say, the camera. Yes, because it is implicitly allowed for personal use, then I am, and should be allowed, access to it.

I'm provided a company car. While there are rules against using it to tow boats, etc., we are allowed reasonable personal use and are taxed for it. I put a bike carrier that I own on it regularly. I put things that I own in it, regularly. I access my data like music, which I own, regularly.

It's a bloody contact list. It was consolidated, and has been for years, for the sake of convenience. I also have backups of it due to possible Outlook failures, and frankly they're contacts. It's not like we are trading proprietary information or trading in the nuclear missile codes. they are contacts, plain and simple. There should be no reason to be so restrictive with them.

As to my frustration with balance, the use case appears to be limited - high-security jobs, jobs with potential SEC implications, etc. I'm sure that it's technology in it's infancy. I'm sure it's because my company doesn't push down specific apps - everything is web-based. Whatever, I'm sure that because I'm not implementing it from the IT side, I don't see it.

What I do see is a significant inconvenience, which I've addressed with IT. Admittedly it has become better since I did so maybe they flipped the switch. The cut-and-paste is frustrating, to be sure, but that is unlikely to go away, so I forward to my own account and then cut and paste from there. Were it convenient, well, that would be one thing. But arbitrarily deciding that people only text when it's personal... floors me.

[Sith_Apprentice]

If I store that information in a single database, for the sake of expediency, sure it is my data. My company provides me with my phone. They allow it for both personal and business use, including installing apps and use of, say, the camera. Yes, because it is implicitly allowed for personal use, then I am, and should be allowed, access to it.

I'm provided a company car. While there are rules against using it to tow boats, etc., we are allowed reasonable personal use and are taxed for it. I put a bike carrier that I own on it regularly. I put things that I own in it, regularly. I access my data like music, which I own, regularly.

It's a bloody contact list. It was consolidated, and has been for years, for the sake of convenience. I also have backups of it due to possible Outlook failures, and frankly they're contacts. It's not like we are trading proprietary information or trading in the nuclear missile codes. they are contacts, plain and simple. There should be no reason to be so restrictive with them.

As to my frustration with balance, the use case appears to be limited - high-security jobs, jobs with potential SEC implications, etc. I'm sure that it's technology in it's infancy. I'm sure it's because my company doesn't push down specific apps - everything is web-based. Whatever, I'm sure that because I'm not implementing it from the IT side, I don't see it.

What I do see is a significant inconvenience, which I've addressed with IT. Admittedly it has become better since I did so maybe they flipped the switch. The cut-and-paste is frustrating, to be sure, but that is unlikely to go away, so I forward to my own account and then cut and paste from there. Were it convenient, well, that would be one thing. But arbitrarily deciding that people only text when it's personal... floors me.

I am glad your IT department seems to be receptive to change. It is likely they didn't know what they were doing at first and simply just locked it down via ignorance of a better option. The fact you find it inconvenient is unfortunate but balance was devised with a larger purpose than your single use case. I am curious, if your environment allows fairly lax security policy, have you thought about activating just through ActiveSync and not on BES. This would keep everything on personal side, and have NO Balance.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[Stomps01]

Just link your work contacts to personal side. I unlinked them because I don't want to mix them with personal. That way work side won't have to be open to communicate with work contacts.

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