| Wireless technology promises anywhere, anytime Internet access. But wireless e- business won’t move beyond niche applications anywhere or anytime soon if spotty security, immature standards, patchy service and other nagging shortcomings aren’t addressed, managers say.
Some 76 percent of 101 IT and business managers surveyed by InternetWeek say their companies aren’t using wireless Web technology. Half of those companies plan to do so but not for at least a year.
Why the inertia? The biggest concern is security, cited by 77 percent of the managers now using or planning to use wireless Web access technology. Other major concerns are the lack of reliable standards (69 percent), lack of Web or enterprise integration products (61 percent), inadequate bandwidth (54 percent), high costs of technology (49 percent) and quality of technology (44 percent).
Nationwide Insurance Co. is exploring some wireless Web technologies, but the Columbus, Ohio, insurer is leery of security risks. “Anything can be picked up off a cell phone, and the same goes for laptops or PDAs,” says Kevin Moore, an Internet security specialist at Nationwide. “Anybody can hack into anything.”
Nationwide is working with wireless carriers to determine how to overcome those threats, Moore says, “but they don’t know and we don’t know how to resolve this.”. |
