Seriously Time to Revisit Your Enterprise Browser Standards

Many companies are waiting to update their corporate browser standards and as a result, there’s a battle not only for consumers, but more and more it’s chaos in the enterprise as it relates to browsers.  Old operating systems with old browsers are often used as the standard browser with the idea of a minimum bar that isn’t enforced.  Old versions of Internet explorer hurt the path for new versions of Internet explorer paving the way for more use of Chrome which is gaining more and more market share.  According to Statscounter Global Stats, Chrome has a commanding lead in the consumer space, with many users preferring the user experience and control of Firefox, while IE gets abused and neglected with adoption continuing to decrease.  Who’s to blame?  Blame Windows?  You can’t blame Windows for supporting or neglecting desktops with old versions of IE.  It seems even the least tech savvy folks I’ve run into have multiple browsers, and for some reason they never upgrade IE, that’s too scary.  They simply install Chrome and Firefox and then only pull out that old version of IE when they have to… which they hate to do!

As a result of old line of business apps built in such a way that it may require old versions of IE such as IE 7 or at best IE 8 in compatibility mode, it hurts the adoption newer versions of Internet Explorer which means more powerful web applications.  I recently came across the infographic below which demonstrates the problem. “Internet Explorer makes up almost 95% of non compatible HTML5 browsers still in use yet 46% of designers are using HTML5 for their designs.”

At home this could be folks who don’t know how to update their browser… but if that’s true then why are there new version of Chrome and Firefox on more desktops?

There’s a call to action here…

SInce Microsoft doesn’t have auto update with Internet Explorer, there needs to be mandated upgrade of Internet Explorer.  It’s causing issues and IE will be to blame.  The only way to overcome the FUD focused on IE will be to get this updated.  At a corporate level touching browser versions seems to be a thing of the past.  If you’re managing desktops or have influence over browser standards… you NEED to get your browsers to an HTML5 compliant browser at a minimum.  IE Is getting hammered both in the consumer and corporate space.  It’s suffering big time and someone needs to wake up and put some effort in.  If you’re not updating the desktop to the latest OS, you do need to keep up with the browsers.  It’s a problem for viruses, support, and so much more.

Action Requested:

1. Review your browser install base – desktop data statistics can get you this.  Web Analytics can give you an idea of the install base.  You’ll also notice who isn’t following your corporate standards.

2. Determine your new browser standard –  consider HTML5 compliant browsers.  Look seriously at newer versions of IE.  I’d say IE 9 at a minimum, but seriously look at Chrome as an alternate browser.  Consider these interesting browser speed test results.

Also refer to PCMag results ‘”By the Numbers: the Fastest Browser – Google’s Chrome hit the world with blazing speed, but is it still the fastest browser, or have IE, Firefox, and Opera caught up? The answer might surprise you.”

Courtesy PCMag (1 of many charts)

3. Come up with a plan to set a minimum bar.  This may mean putting emphasis behind updating legacy LOB apps that are holding back the entire enterprise.  Give it a date to get compliant.

 

Infographic embed used with permission.

http://www.incion.com/resources/uploaded/Website-Design-Facts.jpg