Mobile devices are becoming a factor in the world. Education, government, household, and business users are attracted to the devices for everyday use. The question is really how does a corporate IT office adapt and get ahead of the bow wave of devices coming at them. IT offices are particularly vulnerable because their employees are going to be savvy enough to have personal mobile devices and know how to use them to access the corporate infrastructure. A Bring-Your-Own-Device (BOYD) policy could be an answer, but at what cost? Both in security and financially.
There are many complications that arise by allowing users to bring the devices of their choice into the corporate infrastructure, and most of them revolve around how large the company is. First the reality facing mobile devices is that they are becoming threat vectors for attack. Meaning that while they themselves may not carry viruses or malware, they can be nodes on a network to deploy or allow access to a network. Mobile banking is gaining speed. The ability to cash checks immediately and have instant access to cash is a hot topic. It will only be a short time until someone figures out how to hack that system for nefarious means. In this way a device could be a jump point into a corporate IT infrastructure.
The future is clear for electronic devices. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (News - Alert), postulated that the shift in innovation from pc to mobile devices was the “post-PC era”. While the demise of the PC altogether has yet to be seen it is clear that more users are going to mobile devices for the majority of their Internet and digital data consumption.
Businesses of all sizes need to understand what mobile technology will cost and how it can best help and hurt them. Having employees mobile, working from home, can cut costs on property for the business and gain more opportunities as users are out in the public among customers. Ignoring it will not make it go away, and the possible business opportunities that are missed may put the competition in the front.
Edited by Alisen Downey