The proliferation of mobile devices into our society is beyond trend levels, as it has become nearly as important as our modes of transportation. We rarely leave the house or the office without a mobile device ensuring we stay connected at all times. This focus is changing the way the enterprise approaches communications, putting more pressure on enterprise mobile solutions and the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies.
Fortunately, Microsoft (News - Alert) has a few tips to help along the way. The company released its best practices for enabling enterprise workers considering the use of their own devices in the corporate environment. BYOD continues to grow in popularity as newer and faster devices enter the marketplace and provide consumers with a variety of choice when it comes to work location.
In its own right, BYOD is much more than just an enterprise mobile solutions trend. Gartner (News - Alert) Research reports that 88 percent of all executives throughout the global marketplace have reported that employees are using their own personal computing technologies for business purposes. Only 62 percent of executives, however, say that they currently support or plan to support a BYOD program for tablets and smartphones.
This gap is most certainly going to cause challenges for the IT department as organizations aren’t typically equipped with the right policies, procedures or even tools to ensure that unwanted botnets or spyware don’t enter the enterprise. Plus, the habits we adopted as the typical mobile user don’t always translate well in the corporate environment. The sharing of pictures and information without regard to risk doesn’t play well when also accessing the corporate network.
Don Morrison, Director of U.S. Anti-Piracy for Microsoft, noted in The Wall Street Journal that the BYOD trend offers a number of benefits for users, including a reduction in costs and the ability for enterprise workers to engage with the preferred technology. Still, BYOD can easily blur the lines between personal computing and enterprise use, creating risks for workers and the business, placing more importance on the need for best practices.
Microsoft’s guidance is genuine and needed, covering such areas as the importance of procuring only genuine apps and software from reputable sources, avoiding the lending of devices to others and making sure online usage is safe and that privacy is protected.
Making safe use solely the responsibility of the user is not necessarily a proven method, however. Companies need to work with enterprise mobile solutions providers such as Compuware (News - Alert) to put strategies and tools in place to optimize the BYOD strategy. This includes guidelines for use, access to devices through remote tools, complete visibility, remote swipe opportunities and the reinforcement of the policy in the wake of misuse.
At the end of the day, BYOD can lend considerable benefits to the organization, as long as it is treated with the right level of management and reinforce through robust policies. The benefits can be considerable, but only when the strategy is properly respected as a key business tool.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson