“Bring your own device (BYOD) is not a mobile strategy,” says Matthew David, chief digital strategist at Compuware, a provider of enterprise mobile solutions. “It is the starting point. The starter’s gun. It is not the race and it is certainly not the finishing line. So, what do you do after BYOD? Where do you go and how do you effectively leverage mobility in your organization?”
Organizations around the world have begun to implement a BYOD strategy as mobile devices continue to become an important part of the professional world. Not only does it allow organizations to invite their employees to use their own devices, reducing spending on equipment for the office, but it allows users fulfill their daily operations while on the go.
The key to success in any organization adopting mobility is to start small, according to David. “The next step is to define a roadmap outlining your objectives over an 18 month period,” he continues. “Again, the goal is to illustrate the value of mobility in your organization and that you are not seeing your iPhone (News - Alert) as the next “shiny object” in the room.”
After BYOD is in place, the next factor that comes into play is security, which is the number one topic for CIOs when it comes to mobility. With so many infectious malware hidden in apps that are downloaded on smartphones and the strong efforts hackers take to dislodge personal data, protecting the mobile device is one of the most important steps of the BYOD process.
Devices are carried in and out of building in pockets, and by their very nature, a device is inherently insecure. There are several paths to securing your device. They include:
- Encase all solutions in a container such as ‘Good Technologies’
- Leverage Policy Management for the device (Exchange Active Sync is the most popular)
- Invest in a Mobile Device Management solution (Airwatch, MobileIron, MaaS360 (News - Alert), etc.)
- Build security directly into your app (akin to how you build security into your Web applications)
As the BYOD continues to mobilize offices around the world, the amounts of sensitive information being stolen have reached heightened levels. Tablets and smartphones can lack the IT infrastructure that protects computers running on a network; they don’t have firewalls, access controls or malware protection. However, with the proper mobile security solution in place, businesses and the IT department can control and protect valuable data.
The bottom line for any organization is that they need to implement the same level of security control into their apps as they do on their network. Compuware (News - Alert) helps with this process, as it has more than a decade experience building mobile solutions with a staff of 300 experts.
“Security is an element we build into all our solutions,” says David. “Period.”
Edited by Blaise McNamee