BlackBerry & the SOLO Practitioner / Entrepreneur

The only tech device more personal than a PC (Personal Computer) is the mobile phone. An esteemed and trendy device of many “Solo Practitioners” due to the independence it gains them.

Life as a Solo Practitioner

But, do you frequently feel like the tree in the picture – a bit too independent – when it comes to learning how to get value from your mobile phone?

Terms like CrackBerry (voted Word of the Year for 2006 by Webster’s New World Dictionary) don’t come about by chance. It highlights how utterly dependent many individuals become on BlackBerry mobile handheld devices. And even though that device becomes an intricate part of life (often both business AND personal), they seldom use but a fraction of its ability.

In a prior post ” BlackBerry – Wireless Customers vs BES Owners” I highlight that significant differences exist between what individuals get from a wireless carrier contract, versus what features an employee of a company with a BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) gets. I don’t know the exact statistics, but millions of BlackBerry customers are “Solo Practitioners”.  A large percentage of them have no access to a BES nor do they have IT support personnel. While the term Solo Practitioner classically refers to attorneys, doctors, psychologists and other high income independent professionals, for our purposes it also means:

• New / Start-Up Entrepreneurs
• Real Estate agents
• Financial Planners / Stock Brokers
• 1099 Contract Employees
• many Professional Sales People
• virtually any self-employed and/or employee that is responsible for their own mobile device and the data within it.

The vast majority of the above people are in the same circumstance. They’ve acquired a BlackBerry device via a wireless carrier contract and soon develop high dependence on the device. Yet, are unclear of the fact the wireless carrier is simply an agent representing RIM and BlackBerry specific services. The customer has become a “solo practitioner” in a whole new way!

They come to realize the wireless carrier has no direct responsibility for educating them on BlackBerry server related functions.  Thus, with little or no technical knowledge they must understand and try to resolve how to deal with some complex issues that can arise from the difference in features. Wireless Carrier Contract customer (only) versus one with access to a Company BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server)

• No automatic backup of data / No archiving of older data
• No historic search
• No email maintenance or contact address book sync (must manually maintain multiple locations; PC, Laptop, Mobile device)
• No calendar sync or multiple shared calendaring
• No assistance for addition of most commonly used advanced functions (Google Search, Google Maps, GPS integration etc)
• and other limitations.

Google continues to dramatically expand its mobile device offerings, with strong support for near every BlackBerry unit. This includes MAPS and many WEB 2.0 features.  Most important it also includes support for Google Apps (G-mail, Contacts, Calendar, Docs)  The BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) will always have proprietary features Google understandably will not match. But for “solo practitioners” who lack access to a BES, adding Google Apps (www.GAFYD.net) will provide a wide range of benefits.

Can a BlackBerry device be improved, and reduce the effort from you while doing it? The answer is YES! Call 303-932-8146, to learn how a small / medium business (or individual) can get Google Apps “Standard” version for $0/month ongoing costs.

Google Apps For Your Domain via the Net