Some enterprise mobile users seeing double

Despite all the talk of IT consumerization, there are some mobile professionals out there who may actually be doing their companies a favor when it comes to mobile device management. According to a recent Boston Globe story, there are still employees out there who prefer to carry two mobile devices - one for work and the other for play.

Mobility consumerization came about because employees were fed up with clunky and often outdated devices given to them by an employer. Not wanting to be weighed down by an arsenal of smartphones, some began requesting support for the devices they had purchased on their own.

However, as the Globe article pointed out, consumerization hasn't completely taken hold. There is still a rare breed of mobile professional out there who prefers to keep work and home completely separate.

"I like to keep my personal stuff on a personal device," Adrienne Maley, an event planner with the CIO Executive Council, told the newspaper.

Though her company has supplied and pays for her BlackBerry smartphone, Maley has also chosen to foot the bill for an extra $100 per month it costs her to have an iPhone 4. Doing so means she doesn't have to mix worlds.

What's more, with a separate smartphone for personal use, Maley said there's much less of a chance of she'll accidentally "pocket dial" her boss. That can always be considered a positive when attempting to keep up office appearances.

Then there's an even more endangered species of mobile professional - those with morals. Some employees still respect the fact that their company is willing to pay for and supply them with a smartphone. Charleen Archambault, the dining director for Brooksby Village Retirement Community in Peabody, Massachusetts, is one of them.

Archambault told the Globe that she's simply not comfortable making voice calls and sending text messages from her company-owned BlackBerry. So when she wants to contact her son, Archambault instead reaches for her flip-phone, which has now been rendered archaic by today's mobile technology standards.

Companies no doubt embrace such mobile employees, as wireless expense management and mobile device management have become increasingly challenging thanks to consumerization. Only having to worry about a device being used solely for work purposes would be great news for any IT department.