Last week on Pro: BYOD, AWS, and oDesk

This weekend, all eyes are on SXSW, as 60,000 registered attendees (not to mention the thousands who arrive just for the parties) descend into Austin for the ten-day interactive, film and music festival. Be sure to check out our SXSW coverage and wish our reporters luck and a solid Wi-Fi connection as they navigate hundreds of panel discussions and downtown Austin. Meanwhile, over on GigaOM Pro, our analysts are looking at the challenges of BYOD policies in the workplace, new trends in hiring contractors (both in the U.S. and overseas), and more.

Note: GigaOM Pro is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit pro.gigaom.com to learn more about it.

Cloud: Three Things Amazon Web Services Should Do to Remain On Top
David Linthicum

Analyst David Linthicum takes a look at the latest Gartner report on public cloud computing adoption, which reveals that the IaaS market continues dominate the conversation (and the revenue streams) when it comes to public cloud. While AWS is clearly the biggest IaaS player — for now — Linthicum offers his own take on what Amazon can and should do in order to maintain its lead in the market.

Mobile: Planning a BYOD strategy on the move
Cormac Foster

Analyst Cormac Foster provides a practical guide for enterprises who want to implement a smart, dynamic BYOD strategy. Acknowledging that most companies already have an ad-hoc system in place, Foster provides guidance for establishing an oversight team, creating standards and metrics, and ensuring that you have buy-in from key departments across a given organization before embarking on a phased buildout.

Social: Taking the friction out of a fast-and-loose work economy
Stowe Boyd

Outsourcing is passe — instead, companies like oDesk are propagating a new trend called ”lift, not shift,” as analyst Stowe Boyd discovers when he sits down with Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, to chat about the 540,000+ companies which use the service to find and hire contractors. Boyd analyzes Swart’s description of how US companies create work both in the U.S. and overseas (as opposed to outsourcing labor for their entire company), and how oDesk is establishing itself as a global player in the freelance economy.

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Flickr user Will Merydith