The idea of bringing your own device to work may or may not immediately appeal to the employee base, but there are reasons why it can appeal to IT and company leadership. With the right communication on the strategies you employ, chances are even your skeptics will get on board. As long as you have mobile device management solutions in place, you can seamlessly manage an effective environment.

For the enterprise, it allows company leaders to make better use of the cloud, lowering the cost of staying connected and better leveraging integrated solutions and applications across the network. For the employee, it gives them the freedom to use their own gadgets to get their work done. In the UK alone, nearly half of all office workers have access to the technology that allows them to work from just about anywhere, using smartphones, laptops and tablets to complete their tasks.

Research conducted through a survey of more than 500 CIOs revealed that 70 percent of organizations have bought into the concept that more technology creates choices for employees. Employees are then in turn more motivated and less prone to miss work. Still, it doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns with this strategy. Employees working outside of the office are not working behind the corporate firewall. Using their mobile devices on the fly opens the door to network vulnerabilities.

Mobile device management helps to address these challenges, providing IT with the visibility and control they need to monitor employee activities when they’re accessing the corporate network. It also allows for a remote wipe of the hardware if the smartphone, laptop or tablet is stolen. It also ensures they can block activity that could be harmful, setting alarms that will sound when a threat or questionable activity is present.

This kind of control helps to support the move toward Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies that continue to dominate in companies that favor cloud computing. Even those new to the game are jumping on board, supporting corporate mobility. In fact, according to Gartner (News - Alert), BYOD will be the pervasive strategy by 2015 as companies seek to address changes in user requirements, advancements in technology and the demand for mobility.

Along with this trend comes the growing demand for mobile cloud data storage. As companies continue to capture, store and use data, a focus on reducing the cost of this practice is a key priority. Likewise, mirroring servers and migrating to a virtualized environment proves to be efficient and a lower cost way of managing the business. They key here will be determining the best way to integrate the database with mobile strategies for optimal use.