MSPmentor 250: Avnet's Bayer Masters Mobile User Management

Bennet Bayer

Bayer previously helped a fixed wireless mobile operator in Bangladesh transition to WiMAX. Impressed with Bayer’s knowledge of the wireless and mobile market, a friend at IBM forwarded Bayer’s resume to AVNET. The result? Bayer is now leading AVNET partners into the age of he refers to as “mobile user management.”

“All we hear about is mobile device management (MDM),” Bayer said. “But there are many other aspects like security, enablement, compliance, asset management, lifecycle management and expense. That mobile device is going to change about every six months.”

So Bennet helps AVNET partners focus on developing brower-based mobile environments that cater to the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment. “What we have seen from partners is that the enterprise is no longer purchasing the device. Users are purchasing the devices and the enterprise is providing secure access over the network to secure environments. You [AVNET partners] need to deliver information contextually and by location regardless of what the mobile application is,” he explained.

More specifically, Bayer helps partners narrow mobile user management down to the three P’s: performance, privacy and personalization. He argues that the type mobile device being used does not matter nearly as much as how information is sent and gathered over those devices, and his three P philosophy is a major reason why AVNET partners, according to Bennet, grow their business 37-48 percent faster than their peers. “At the end of the day I am here to help them [partners] grow faster, take cost out of their businesses and reduce risk,” Bennet said. “This is my day job. I’m always fixed on where our partners are and how I can help them grow. I think I have the best job at AVNET.”