Recent research from Harris, commissioned by TeamViewer, found that Americans are using more devices each day than ever before, and this is leading to the need to access their data regardless of the device they’re using:

“TeamViewer, one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online presentation software, today announced the findings of its survey of over 2,000 Americans, conducted online by Harris Interactive. The survey found that 63 percent of Americans say they use at least two computing devices (defined as computers such as desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, smart phones and portable gaming devices) on a weekly basis, with 15 percent revealing they use four or more computing devices. In fact, 30 percent said they are now using more computing devices than in any prior year.“

My Comments
1. In the 7 Pillars model, Pillar 2 is about location-independent access to team data, applications and people. In other words, I agree.

2. Since TeamViewer is focused on remote access services, it makes sense that they see the answer as “access to remote access.” For some devices, that’s the best way to do it, but (a) it can be slow, depending on the network you have access to, and (b) sometimes you don’t have access to a network at all.

3. I’m a big fan of local synchronization tools, with my current preference being SugarSync – I sync about 8GB of data between various machines. SugarSync runs on all my laptop and desktop devices (about 6 of them), but I don’t use it on my iPad or BlackBerry. I have a laptop with me at most times, so that gives me access to my files whenever I need them. Another common alternative is Dropbox.