Ask Steve: Is There a Home for HDTV at the Office?

When I was 17, I got a phat job at a dry cleaner in the St. Louis suburbs. Making $4.75 an hour, I felt kingly compared to my prior job at McDonald’s where I was making $3.35 an hour plus all the Big Macs I could eat after closing time. At the dry cleaner, we had a 12-inch black-and-white TV to help pass the hours sorting, tagging, spotting, cleaning and pressing. It helped — a little. In the 1980s SMBs had a scant little consumer technology in the workplace, but today the consumerization of the enterprise is in full force. Technology continues to find its way from the home to the SMB and there’s no turning back.

I’ve tapped Josh Martin, Yankee Group’s pre-eminent consumer analyst, to discuss the consumerization of the enterprise and connected devices. All you gadgets lovers, grab a Filet-O-Fish and large fries and sink your teeth into this month’s Ask Steve.

Q: I just bought an HDTV for home. What do you think about HDTV for the office? I’ve heard cable companies are going to offer new things like distance learning and conferencing over HDTV. What do you think?

— Bryan from Kissimmee, Fla.

A: Bryan, you’re not the only one wondering what types of cool gadgets will find their way into the SMB office of the future. In a prior column, I wrote about the high levels of cable TV adoption in the SMB office setting. We have no doubt HDTV and all sorts of programming are coming your way soon. In talks with the major cable operators like Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable – Business Class and Cox Communications Inc., we’ve found heightened interest in offering new types of video programming — both one-way and two-way — to SMBs. Programming would focus on entertainment, education and communications.

Let’s take a quick look at some Yankee Group forecast data on connected devices. A connected HDTV could provide access to limitless HD content while disintermediating the service provider altogether. Maybe Rosetta Stone language classes? How about live classes from business school? Or, realistically, the ability to watch any MLB game at any time? Connectivity is key to eventually enabling these types of scenarios and connectivity is being embedded into many devices. From 2008 to 2010, connected devices will grow exponentially (see chart, Connected Device Forecast). Yankee Group only measures those gadgets that have embedded wireless or wireline connectivity options. So an HDTV without the ability to connect to the Internet via wired or wireless connectivity doesn’t count in our forecast.

In addition to lessons, connected HDTVs will eventually provide high-resolution video conferencing such as Cisco’s telepresence to reduce travel expense. Employees will use digital audio players, such as iPod nanos, to grab the latest work-related podcasts to review at home after the kids go to bed. Digital media adapters, such as Sling Catchers, link computer and TV functionality provide access to applications in new ways and locations.

If you find it hard to imagine a world where all this consumer-centric technology finds its way into the business context, maybe you’re just in the wrong demographic. According to Yankee Group’s 2007 Mobile Professional Blended Lifestyle Survey data, 32 percent of Millennials (people born after 1980) and only 16 percent of Baby Boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) believe they are more productive at work when they have access to their consumer applications and technology tools. So it’s not so strange when the average Millennial uses 3.8 consumer tools in the workplace, while the Baby Boomer only uses 2.5 on average.

Consumerization of the enterprise leads to many changes in technology deployment for SMBs. We’ve talked about connected devices in this Ask Steve, but the implications impact mobile devices, PCs, virtualized environments, cloud computing, UC, video-based applications and more.

Thanks for the great questions and keep them coming.

Send your questions to [email protected]. Please include your name, city, state and a phone number where you can be reached. First names and locations only will be published.

Steve Hilton is the vice president of Yankee Group’s Enterprise Research Group with an expertise in converged solutions for SMBs. Hilton manages a team of analysts delivering consulting, research and programs to help vendors and service providers better serve SMBs, midmarket enterprises and large enterprises globally. Visit Yankee Group online at www.yankeegroup.com.