[Clinto]

UPDATE: BLACKBERRY'S MANAGER OF ENTERPRISE RELATIONS REPLIED TO ME. READ HIS RESPONSE ON PAGE 2 OF THIS THREAD.


This is what I received on email from my company's I.T. Dept manager when I told them I'd be ugrading from my Bold 9930 to the new Z10.

Clint,
I checked with (I.T. Manager's name kept anynomous) about the Blackberry 10 device. Our version of the BIS won�t handle the new device. As of this time there are no plans to upgrade that server.


Granted; above I've been given no reason as to why they won't upgrade to the new server to handle BB10.. But I can only assume that they think it will cost thousands of dollars to upgrade to the new server. Also, I thought we were on the B"E"S Server non BIS Server.. I thought the "E" stood for "Enterprise"?? And correct me if I'm wrong, I thought it was a FREE upgrade to BES 10??

We've been using BlackBerry at work since BlackBerry started and I am just shocked that we aren't supporting them anymore. I know that upper management all use iphones and ipads and I.T. also allows us "insurance agents" (who all work directly for our company) to use Apple, Android or BlackBerry.

So I'm assuming that I am one of the very few agents who uses a BlackBerry anymore. And I'm also assuming that my company doesn't want to spend the money to upgrade so they'll just force us to opt for an Apple or Android phone.

My plan to fight this is to get the facts. My company won't even waste their time considering to upgrade unless I can show them how it will benefit the company. So I need to find out exactly how much it will cost to upgrade to the new server. Find out how much it costs to have the new server also provide the service of managing over the other Apple and Android devices (which I know BES 10 can do). Also see how easy it is to train someone to run the software. I will then take that information along with showing them the superior capabilities of BB10 and "sell" them on upgrading to BES 10. Hopefully after all of that, I can place my order for the Z10 and my mission will be accomplished!

This morning I called RIM at their corporate # on their website at: (519) 888-7465. (long distance from the USA) I was shocked at how crappy RIM is as handling the potential loss of a corporate account. At that #, I spoke with a woman who clearly couldn't give a $hit less and she directed me to "Sales" at which point I had to wait thru several options then press "5" for sales and then... I got to some girl who sounded like she was from Malaysia. She spoke broken English and took my info, I told exactly what I wanted and she put me on hold for 6 minutes and then lost my call.. Why the heck doesn't RIM provide a better sales team??? Especially when they will most likely lose our large account??

So then (frustrated) I sent this email to RIM:
From: Clinton "Blank"
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:59 AM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: "Blank" Insurance Company - 200 Enterprise Connected Employees - Need Help Convincing V.P. To Stay With BlackBerry and Upgrade To BES BB10

Hello,

My company has currently decided to stop using BlackBerry as there is fear of spending more money on the new software and I need to convince them otherwise and continue to use your fine product.

To help convince them, I would like to know the answer to the following questions.

� We currently have BES 5 enterprise software, how much will it cost to upgrade our software to handle BB10?

� Can the new BB10 software handle previous generation BlackBerry�s?

� If we wanted it to support the management of Android and Apple device, is there an increase in cost for that software, or does it come included with the new BES BB10 software?

� If we go through with upgrading our software to handle BB10, how much training is needed?


Any help that you can provide is appreciated!


Thank You,

Clint "Blank"


Maybe I'm too impatient, but NO one has responded to my email yet. If you email my company asking for a quote or if you enter a claim, you get a response in less than 4 hours. Period..

Anyway.. Back on task.. Anyone in Crackberry Land have any ideas on how I can convince my company to stay with BlackBerry? I REALLY want the Z10.

Any advice or input is super appreciated!

AGAIN... UPDATED: SEE BLACKBERRY'S VERY NICE RESPONSE ON PAGE 2 OF THIS THREAD

[mapsonburt]

I had a discussion about this with my company's IT department as well. The problem is that BB10 has moved away from the proprietary synchronous interface under BES 5 et al to an Active Sync connection under BES 10. I've seen ads saying RIM is making the licences free for BES 5 owners but the problem is that you need another PHYSICAL server setup beside the BES 5 to run BB10 phones alongside the old BB5/6/7 phones. Its no big deal to manage as they both run under the same management console but it does take another physical server. Perhaps you could get the IT guy to pop an old box in on a "pilot". If you get them onto BES 10, chances are they'll like that they can also manage other Active Sync devices.... so they can justify a full roll out only to find that the BB10 devices rule! Good luck.

[silversun10]

wait till they change their minds, might happen sooner than you think, or not, but it is always a possibility...

[Thunderbuck]

We may need to be fair here. It may not be reasonable to expect your respective IT departments to instantly support a device just because you want it. There's a decision-making process that has to be followed. For all you know, the upgrade may already be in the planning stages.

You've registered your wishes with your IT department. You've done what you can.

[brmiller1976]

Does your IT group support iOS, Windows Phone, or Android via ActiveSync? If so, you don't need a BES.

[Clinto]

Thunderbuck, I didn't think I was being "unreasonable". I'm looking for a solution as to how to sell them on upgrading. From the research that I did, BB makes it sound like it's a free upgrade. On top of that BB still has the best encryption of any platform (already proved for BB10) so that alone would be a selling point for an insurance company that holds so many people's Driver's license #'s, Social Sec #'s and addresses. I would think they'd stay with BlackBerry. Not just because I want them to, but because it's a good business decision.

Anybody else have any ideas on how support me?

[igotberryfever]

My company just upgraded to bes 5 with no plans to go bes10. I will still be able to receive email on bb10 as it uses active sync/ exchange.

[berklon]

Our firm sent out a global e-mail telling everyone NOT to upgrade to BB10 until we move to Exchange in late summer and we can use ActiveSync. We won't be setting up BES 10.

So very few will be hanging on to their old BBs waiting for BB10. Most will be moving to iOS/Android instead. You can only be patient for so long... to wait another 7+ months is tough to do when you've been using a dated phone for years.

[anon(1152406)]

Let us know what [email protected] comes back with

[Thunderbuck]

Thunderbuck, I didn't think I was being "unreasonable". I'm looking for a solution as to how to sell them on upgrading. From the research that I did, BB makes it sound like it's a free upgrade. On top of that BB still has the best encryption of any platform (already proved for BB10) so that alone would be a selling point for an insurance company that holds so many people's Driver's license #'s, Social Sec #'s and addresses. I would think they'd stay with BlackBerry. Not just because I want them to, but because it's a good business decision.

Anybody else have any ideas on how support me?

Your best hope is to recruit allies in the company. In fact, your best hope would be to find people who really, REALLY want an iPhone or a Galaxy, because then you can make a BYOD case to IT.

PS: It's not cool for a user to directly go to a vendor. You stand a chance of developing a reputation as a royal PITA.

[DavideaNY]

Op I see only one reasonable thing to do at this point... Change employer!!

[Wazimas]

Clint, I'm sorry to hear you are having issue reaching support/sale at Blackberry and I admire your efforts in getting any information that your IT department may not be aware of. BlackBerry 10 Server do require another server (Blackberry Fusion) to manage the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones, Blackberry PlayBook, Apple IOS phones and Android phones. This along may be the part your IT department may find attractive in using a single platform to manage all BYOD. FYI, BlackBerry will release later this year an upgrade that wil allow a single server to manage all Blackberry smartphone as well Apple and Android phones. If your IT department presently have a BES in place then they would only need to setup the Blackberry 10 server on a seperate server and managed all phones. Presently they need their present BES for BB phones with OS 7.x or older. The new benefit with the new BB 10 server is a improved single management UI console. Again later in the year, they will need only one server. BlackBerry is offering a free upgrade but be aware that there is a client license cost for the Apple, Playbook, Android and BB10 phones, none for the BB phones they are presently managing. I hope this information is helpful, as a reseller of BB services we are talking to our clients who wish to allow BYOD but wish to be able to managed those devices. If you wish, you can give me your contact information and I can reach out to our contacts in BlackBerry.

[sunjammer]

OP, I feel your pain. I work at a Fortune 500 company, and there are no plans to upgrade to BES 10. Our head-office corporate IT division wrote off RIM last year as "they're going bankrupt." We've adopted Mobile Iron for iPhone 5 and Android devices, despite its higher costs. Otherwise, we're keeping our old BES5 servers around until they die, for those of us who refuse to use iPhones and Androids.

*Hopefully*, they'll decide to move onto BES10, only if they can be "guaranteed" that BB10 will be successful.

[Clinto]

Thanks Everybody for your input. I do appreciate it. I also feel much better about the whole thing. I thought my company was just being short minded and cheap. Looks like they actually have some pretty good reasons for not moving forward at this point with BES 10.

I will definitly take your advice and try to move forward with Active Sync so that I can get the Z10 when it's available. I honestly don't know if that's possible, but I will ask tomorrow.
I will also report back here with what BlackBerry replies to me with on the above email that I sent them.

Crackberry really is an awesome community..

[sexybabe88]

i think that unless you are an official representative of your company, you really shouldn't be contacting the corporate hotline.. much less asking rim to help you convince your company..

i can see why they're not replying/still trying to figure out what to say to you. I don't think what you did is legitimate even though the questions asked and the intent might be.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[Clinto]

Sexybabe88, what if RIM did help me and they sold 200 more of their phones? My company would have the best security on the planet and it would help support RIM. Whats the profit on 200 phones? It might pay to add one more whole employee to RIM.

If they had simply given my phone call to an actual sales rep, not someone in Malaysia in the "sales center", I would have asked that sales rep to contact our I.T. manager and help him through the confusion. And yes I would give the RIM sales rep my name to give to the manager to ensure he made it through. Everybody would have won and I wouldn't have to make the sales pitch myself on RIM's behalf.

I am just looking for help and support to help my company stay with and support RIM.

[Double_J75]

Time to find a new place to work. One that will get you a new bb10 device ASAP. J/K goodluck though.

[Ray III]

Burn your company down.

Then burn RIM down.

Then make me a sandwich.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Clint,
your company might have a RIM sales/support contact. talk to the IT manager and get RIM to come out and give a demo. BES10 WILL incorporate BB legacy, BB10, and iOS/Android on the SAME server come May-ish time frame. That is the path RIM is going. Currently its another server, but it wont always be that way.

[Clinto]

That is exactly what I was aiming for Sith! High Five! Wouldn't that be nice to have RIM come to us and give a demo? Thanks for your support.

[br3wnor]

Sounds like a sizable office and if you're really one of the only people in it who wants to use BB10 you can't reasonably expect them to buy an entire server for your one phone. Nor do I think they'd want some sales rep trying to hard sell them on a new platform when the higher ups are already using iPhones and androids. I gotta agree with Thunderstruck and say just for your own job's sake you might be creating more headaches then needed by trying to do this on your own. Do what you gotta do but I'd give it some serious thought before the IT guy is complaining to your boss because you had a RIM sales rep contact them.

EDIT: Sith has a good point, talk to the IT guy first before having RIM contact them and see what he says. If he's against it then I'd let it drop.

[just_luc]

To the OP and to the other poster who said his company told people to wait until July.. both of you indicated people can use iphones and android currently within the company.. If that's the case you can also use your BB10 device on launch day.. Sure having BES10 would be great, having active sync would be good.. but BB10 supports every connection protocol iphone and android does.. be pop3, imap.. whatever.. if others are connecting on anything other then legacy BB devices, then you CAN connect your BB10 device..

[Clinto]

All very good points br3wnor. Yeah I kind of made that point in my very lengthy post above, they aren't going to spend thousands just for little ole me. But on the email they provided you can see how it works in our company. The manager tells the sub-manager and the sub-manager tells me. And no reasons are given. So I did some investigating and RIM makes it sound like the upgrade is free.

So I'm thinking this is an easy fix, I'll find out from RIM how much it really does cost and if they do say it's free, then bingo; that is an easy sell to my company. But no-one in RIM's "sales center" knows enough to tell me..

That is why I came to this awesome community. As many have said above it is not free, but others have said perhaps I can go with Active Sync as a back up plan. That is going to be direction I'll take now. Unless as Sith says I can convince them to allow RIM to do a demo. That's a long shot though.. I do appreciate your caution though, no body wants to get in trouble over a phone..

[Sith_Apprentice]

Clinto, PM me please

[lnichols]

All very good points br3wnor. Yeah I kind of made that point in my very lengthy post above, they aren't going to spend thousands just for little ole me. But on the email they provided you can see how it works in our company. The manager tells the sub-manager and the sub-manager tells me. And no reasons are given. So I did some investigating and RIM makes it sound like the upgrade is free.

So I'm thinking this is an easy fix, I'll find out from RIM how much it really does cost and if they do say it's free, then bingo; that is an easy sell to my company. But no-one in RIM's "sales center" knows enough to tell me..

That is why I came to this awesome community. As many have said above it is not free, but others have said perhaps I can go with Active Sync as a back up plan. That is going to be direction I'll take now. Unless as Sith says I can convince them to allow RIM to do a demo. That's a long shot though.. I do appreciate your caution though, no body wants to get in trouble over a phone..

BES10 is free, but the server hardware, Windows licenses, etc to stand up a separate BES10 are not free, and it is a new piece of hardware/software to manage and maintain. Also it appears that the initial release of BES10 will be missing some advanced management features that BES5 admins and policies may need. I was looking over the BES10 site yesterday and found that nugget out. Apparently in May BES10 will get an upgrade to allow it to support BBOS and BB10 devices on the same server, and will provide the advanced management features that government and security conscience business likely rely on. From the BES10 FAQ:

Is BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10
going to be a single-server model?
Prior to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, if you had a
BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 and BlackBerry Mobile
Fusion (UDS 6.2, BDS 6.1 and BlackBerry Mobile Fusion Studio),
they could have been setup in two varying configurations to
manage BlackBerry OS devices, PlayBook tablets, iOS and
Android Devices:
- Configuration 1: BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 on one
server and BlackBerry Device Service, Universal Device
Service and Fusion Management Studio on the second server.
In this configuration, we support up to 1000 devices across
both MDM domains
- Configuration 2: BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 on one
server, BlackBerry Device Service and Fusion Management
Studio on a second server and Universal Device Service and
Mobile Fusion Studio on a third server to achieve
larger capacity.
If you are using BlackBerry Mobile Fusion Studio as your
admin console, you will already be benefiting from the single
admin user experience across multiple different servers.
With the initial launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10
in January 2013, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.x will still
require its own server, while BlackBerry Device Service and
Universal Device Service can reside on separate servers or be
combined on the same physical or virtual server (click here for
more information). Should you opt to work with virtual servers,
we fully support this type of deployment. BlackBerry Mobile
Fusion operated in a similar fashion, with BES 5.x requiring
one server, and both BlackBerry Device Service and Universal
Device Service able to be deployed on a single server or on
separate servers.
The roadmap for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 includes
an update currently scheduled for May 2013. This service
pack will enable BlackBerry Device Service and Universal
Device Service , together with BlackBerry Enterprise
Servers (BES 5.0.3+) to run on the same physical or virtual
server; all seamlessly managed using a single fully featured
management console. These developments will centralize
mobility management into a single point and provide flexibility,
convenience, and added management functionality.

Why are the current BlackBerry
Enterprise Server 5.x capabilities not being
built-in to the new BlackBerry Enterprise
Service 10 MDM software?
We made this decision to make upgrade and migration as
flexible as possible, and to make good our promise to protect
customers’ existing mobile infrastructure investments.
Some customers will switch to BlackBerry 10 devices very
quickly and retire their existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server(s)
in favour of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, while others
will run the two environments in parallel for years to come
– including the ability to manage all environments through
a single console. Some are moving to open BYOD policies
which require multi-platform MDM, others in Government and
regulated industries who have high security and management
requirements or where company data is highly sensitive are
pursuing a BlackBerry-only path. Many enterprises are
between these two extremes.
For this reason we have decided to enable existing
BlackBerry Enterprise Server implementations to be managed
through the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 admin console,
but otherwise to remain as-is in your infrastructure. In the same
way existing BlackBerry smartphones are making a transition
to BlackBerry 10, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is making a
transition to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and as a part of
that transition, an overall architectural evaluation was completed
that determined the best options. It was decided to leave the
components of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 that provide
the proprietary messaging interfaces (as used by existing
BlackBerry smartphones to connect with BlackBerry Enterprise
Server and messaging systems) as a separate component so that
as customers upgrade their devices over time that component
can be removed from the environment.

I hear BlackBerry 10 devices
will support ActiveSync. Is this true?
Does this mean I can use the standard
ActiveSync controls to manage
BlackBerry 10 smartphones?
Yes, BlackBerry 10 supports ActiveSync for enterprise
integration with Microsoft Exchange and other enterprise
mail platforms that use ActiveSync. In fact we already support
ActiveSync on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet today. It will be
simple to setup and sync BlackBerry 10 smartphones out of the
box with ActiveSync alone, and that’s fine if you don’t need a
high level of security and control (ActiveSync supports a small
number of policies which are insufficient for most enterprise
MDM requirements) so we also give you the ability to add
enterprise-level security and management with
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.
For more information on why and how we’re using
ActiveSync, click here.

So basically BES10 may not be fully enterprise ready until May for many organizations.