Preparing your Enterprise for Mobile Device Management and a BYOD Program
I recently spent some time reading the recently released “iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report”, which is a good resource on mobility trends based on a survey.
Two statistics that I found especially interesting were:
- 91% [of respondents] use their smartphones for work, compared to 69% in 2010.
- 58% of mobile employees are provisioned smartphones by their companies; this is down from nearly two-thirds a year ago. 42% of employees have individually liable smartphones.
Smart phones have become a de facto work tool, however fewer of those smartphones are being provided by the corporation. Instead of carrying around multiple phones/tablets, we dual purpose our personal devices for work.
In order to reign in these employee-owned devices to control access and security, IT managers look to Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions.
MDM solutions vary, with some being more “big brother” than others. IT managers need to formulate a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy that meets their specific business needs, and effectively document and communicate that policy among employees so they are not caught unaware.
Employees need to know what personal information is visible to their corporate IT staff using MDM tools. They want to know if the corporation can see every phone call they’ve made, track where they’ve been, read their text messages, view their contacts list, photos, apps, etc.
Employees also need to know what they can and cannot do, as well as the consequences. Are they allowed to download applications on their devices? Jailbreak the device? Delete an app that is deemed critical to the corporation? Upload data to iCloud? Access iTunes? What info is wiped when an employee leaves the company? All of these things will vary depending on the type of business, compliance concerns, and the capabilities of the MDM tools.
How do you decide what type of BYOD program to put in place? You can start with the following:
- Assess your risk tolerance – are you in a heavily regulated industry such as finance, healthcare, or government? If so, then you’ll likely opt for a more locked down strategy.
- Define the program goals – for example, do you want to increase employee productivity, increase security, decrease IT support requirements?
- Involve stakeholders in your program development – this could include legal, HR, finance, or executive level sponsor for funding purposes
