With consumer technology constantly evolving and the workforce becoming more mobile, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend seems to be the result of a perfect storm. But when you peek behind the curtain and see the overworked IT teams being asked to support BYOD policies, you begin to ask — is “perfect” really the right word?
Akin Banuso, Dell’s Country Manager for Nigeria, explores the Pros and the Cons.
Bring your own device (BYOD) has become such a household term that it is difficult to remember what office life was like before work emails were accessible on cell phones. With the narrowing of major gaps between enterprise technology and consumers, BYOD has suddenly become both feasible and explosively popular.
The gradual exit of desktop computers from offices within the past five years is one example of how advances in technology birthed the BYOD trend. Enterprises had traditionally relied on desktop computers because they were more powerful and stable than earlier laptop models. Employers could also not assume that each employee had his or her own personal computer. Nowadays however, it is the norm for employees to not only have a laptop but a smartphone and tablet as well, outnumbering the devices offered by their employers and potentially contributing to increased productivity.
As mobile device technology became more sophisticated, an increasing number of companies began issuing laptops in order to allow employees work away from the office. In no time, employees (and employers) began to wonder why they should have two laptops — a work-issued machine and a personal one -when both carried the same functionality.
With the emergence of complex tablets, Phablets and phones, came modern user interfaces which unified touchscreen tablet and desktop experiences and allowed users to work seamlessly across devices. The narrowing of these gaps has led to the meteoric rise of BYOD, which is expected to continue its climb until virtually every organisation has been touched. Gartner estimates that by 2017 90 percent of companies will support some aspect of BYOD, and by 2018, employee-owned devices in the workplace will outnumber employer-issued machines two to one.
However, one issue which businesses often overlook is what employees are accessing on these devices – namely an organisation’s most important data and intellectual property. In order to be productive in a BYOD environment, employees need to access and share data wherever they are on whatever device they have.
Not only does this mean business documents can conceivably be accessed through any employee device, but they are also commonly stored in public cloud and other popular collaboration tools, which an IT department does not have direct control over. The potential security risks are alarming.
Two years ago, Gartner found that a quarter of BYOD users admitted to having had a security issue with the private device they used for work, but only 27 percent of those respondents reported the issue to their employers. Keep in mind, those are just the security issues that were recognised by the employees – it is safe to imagine the actual number of unreported breaches was much higher.
For IT teams responsible for protecting sensitive corporate data, the advance of BYOD creates a couple of challenges, including:
● Instituting policies and communications so that employees understand secure versus insecure use of their personal devices (e.g. do not log in to unsecured WiFi, do report lost or stolen devices, label all devices with your name and contact info)
● Keeping software and operating systems across all devices up to date, while not having physical access to some of these devices
● Maintaining compliance in order to avoid hefty fines from regulatory organisations
Meanwhile, companies that do not have dedicated IT departments face even more monumental challenges. The smaller-budget organisations that stand to benefit most from BYOD and mobility policies can have the hardest time adequately securing these devices. This is doubly concerning because while breaches, theft, and data loss affect companies of all sizes, they can be a death sentence for small businesses.
Simply put, finding a way to secure critical information in this new workplace environment in a simple and time-effective manner — without a large budget — is becoming one of the biggest challenges of the modern business landscape.
Despite the challenges, however, businesses with limited IT resources can still successfully reap the benefits of a truly mobile workforce. The most workable and successful approach for many businesses continues to be two-fold:
1) Protect the data itself.
Using data protection methods like encryption, advanced authentication, and “containment” of risky applications within a virtualized environment can go a long way to helping you avoid breaches and compromised data. There are security solutions that can help you accomplish all of this without using many IT resources.
2) Simplify your operations.
There are security consoles available that can help you manage a large number of distinct and remote endpoints from one location. Look for a console that provides consolidated status and compliance reports, quick deployment, and pre-baked settings and reports based on your compliance needs.
As more businesses commit to a mobile workforce, empowering employees to be productive – and also make the occasional mistake – is going to be pivotal to success. Freeing a workforce to be mobile in a way that still protects critical data is one of the key challenges facing IT departments. While this challenge will get easier as more companies discover platforms that simplify security management and find relatable policies that work well for their organisations. In the meantime, employees can make IT teams’ lives a little easier by avoiding security risks wherever possible and reporting security issues as soon as they arise.
And also, maybe give them an extra smile and a “good job” once in a while. After all, they are working extremely hard to make your work life as convenient as possible.
