[rellims]

I was having a conversation the other day with the BES admin at work. He mentioned to me that 50% of BB users have switched to active sync devices (iphone, G1, etc.) in the past 6 months. He made the comment that they are much easier to support, from my understanding basically he has to do nothing. I am curious to know if anyone else has seen the transition to active sync devices at their workplace also?

I love my BB and always have since I owned one, but got a bit paranoid that one day I will have to move to an active sync device if my job stops using BES.

Also from my understanding the carriers make the decision to send the data through RIM, what happens if the carriers decide to not do that?

[wolf1989]

To many people use blackberries for everything to just fall apart one day. Of course someday the company may go under but that is true with any company. Personally I have had active sync phones and I HATED it.

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[Toddboy71]

While I'm sure there will be companies switch to iPhone and others, but until they become more secure, it will be a small percentage in the grand scheme of the enterprise market. And as RIM continually gets millions of new customers to suscribe each QUARTER, they will continue to grow

[jdoc77]

I see Rellims point though. As businesses pare down their staff... hiring an extra IT guy to manage the BES starts to look like a luxury if there is another viable alternative...

[Sith_Apprentice]

If they eliminate the BES they will eliminate much of their productivity. RIM is growing their enterprise business by leaps and bounds (150,000+ active BESs worldwide). If your IT guys knew the benefits of the BES and how to use it, they wouldnt be making the claims that its not necessary. Those other devices are no where near as secure as the BB solution. Its a LOT more than email now, and leaving it to just email is wasting a valuable resource.

In short, NO, the BES will not be going anywhere. Companies that care AT ALL about security dont go with the other solutions. Also, with Argon its very EASY to manage a server at its basic levels.

[Toddboy71]

I see Rellims point though. As businesses pare down their staff... hiring an extra IT guy to manage the BES starts to look like a luxury if there is another viable alternative...

Migration can be even more time consuming however.

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[Toddboy71]

If they eliminate the BES they will eliminate much of their productivity. RIM is growing their enterprise business by leaps and bounds (150,000+ active BESs worldwide). If your IT guys knew the benefits of the BES and how to use it, they wouldnt be making the claims that its not necessary. Those other devices are no where near as secure as the BB solution. Its a LOT more than email now, and leaving it to just email is wasting a valuable resource.

In short, NO, the BES will not be going anywhere. Companies that care AT ALL about security dont go with the other solutions. Also, with Argon its very EASY to manage a server at its basic levels.

I couldn't agree more. I was also reading that as there is an increase in unemployment in the ranks of the highly qualified IT professional, security will become even more of a premium, not just in the internet, but also in the mobile world.

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[rellims]

Good to here opinions that say BB will be around for a while.

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[taddley]

I was having a conversation the other day with the BES admin at work. He mentioned to me that 50% of BB users have switched to active sync devices (iphone, G1, etc.) in the past 6 months.

Ditto with prior posts.

And, I don't see how the numbers pitched out by your BES guy add up. 50% of BB users in the last 6 months? What?

Reports show that the most popular / best selling devices in Q4 2008 were 1.) BB Curve; 2.) iPhone; 3.) BB Storm; 6.) BB Bold.

Gong! Get off the stage.

[rellims]

If they eliminate the BES they will eliminate much of their productivity. RIM is growing their enterprise business by leaps and bounds (150,000+ active BESs worldwide). If your IT guys knew the benefits of the BES and how to use it, they wouldn't be making the claims that its not necessary. Those other devices are no where near as secure as the BB solution. Its a LOT more than email now, and leaving it to just email is wasting a valuable resource.

In short, NO, the BES will not be going anywhere. Companies that care AT ALL about security dont go with the other solutions. Also, with Argon its very EASY to manage a server at its basic levels.

Sith, can you elaborate just a bit on the other features of having a BES? As it stands its only being used for email that I know of. Coincidentally I've been tasked with researching possible efficiency gains for Q2, maybe these features could help me out.

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[cavingjan]

Reports show that the most popular / best selling devices in Q4 2008 were 1.) BB Curve; 2.) iPhone; 3.) BB Storm; 6.) BB Bold.

Do not confuse best selling phones with increase or decrease in the use of BES. I would hazard a guess that a lot of the new phones could be going to consumers using BIS and not BES or going as replacement phones for BES users which doesn't increase the number of BES users.

The real question will be: can RIM do it alone? Let's face it, a lot of phones support Active Sync out of the box. Why set up a BES server that limits you?

[Xopher]

I know that one of the features within BES (I think it is part of MDS) is office extensions (if not out already, possibly in the upcoming release). If I remember what I heard correctly, it gives teh users the ability to port their office extension to their Blackberry. They can receive calls as if they are at their desk, can call others with just their extension, and when making calls, it will look as if they are at their desk.

I believe there are other security and collaboration tools that work with BES to help keep business information secure.

From what I have heard, it sounds like there is a lot more to BES than just e-mail. It sounds like the OP's company only uses BES for e-mail, and that may be why it is not as strong of a resource as it could be within their company.

[Sith_Apprentice]

That is something in addition to BES. Its called BlackBerry MVS and the Ascendant Voice Service. Its listed on BlackBerry.com if you want to read up on it.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Do not confuse best selling phones with increase or decrease in the use of BES. I would hazard a guess that a lot of the new phones could be going to consumers using BIS and not BES or going as replacement phones for BES users which doesn't increase the number of BES users.

The real question will be: can RIM do it alone? Let's face it, a lot of phones support Active Sync out of the box. Why set up a BES server that limits you?

Security, monitoring, scalability, and of course battery life. Turn on ActiveSync on a device and have it check constantly for email. Then use an 8820 and see which device has a better battery.

[taddley]

Do not confuse best selling phones with increase or decrease in the use of BES.

Yep. I actually thought about that after my post. You got me on that one. But still ... 50%? Do you really think that figure is even in the ballpark?

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[Sith_Apprentice]

Sith, can you elaborate just a bit on the other features of having a BES? As it stands its only being used for email that I know of. Coincidentally I've been tasked with researching possible efficiency gains for Q2, maybe these features could help me out.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Email/PIM Sync OTA
Increased security
Monitoring
As a BES admin i can control literally any aspect of the device to make sure it only connects how I want it to connect. I can audit information sent from the device to make sure that nothing is being sent that shouldnt be.
Users can access the intranet as securely as if they were sitting at their own terminals.

There are far too many benefits to list, and the only way to truly know how much a BES really does for a company is to use one.