Current Practices

As mentioned previously, the capabilities of today’s mobile devices have extended their usability into a class of computing technology previously restricted to personal computers and are thus being used for both personal as well as work related purposes. Personal computers developed in a similar manner into information sharing systems and are now critical business tools. This convergence from personal to organizational use is not surprising given the advantageous capabilities of smartphones and tablets. For users, the benefits of mobile computing are easily recognized and users would prefer to carry a single mobile device instead of carrying multiple devices for both private and business purposes [50].

There are however also disadvantages for personal, and more importantly in the case of this study, organizational use of current smartphones and tablet computers. The information security and privacy risks are less obvious and are usually only observed at the occurrence of incidents, such as a security breach which results in loss of confidential business information. Some of these concerns have already been highlighted by security researchers. Examples such as the “Find and Call” trojan application previously found in both iOS and Android official application repositories which was designed to leak device contact information [51], and the growing number of samples of malware found on current mobile platforms give evidence of the validity for the concerns [52].

These cases have been the focus of many technology-driven online articles and academic research papers. Despite this, because of the beneficial computing capabilities and popularity of these portable computing technologies, there is an indication of increasing organizational use by employees regardless of valid security concerns.

In the previous chapter, market share figures were used to portray the pervasiveness of smartphone and tablet use. These figures however do not give actual evidence of device adoption within organizations. This chapter provides an introduction of such evidence to establish relevance of the extent of mobile device use within organizations.

2.3.1.

Organizational Use of Mobile Devices

In a paper by Lebek et al. [53] which investigates influences of employees intention to use mobile devices in a BYOD context, the author suggests that people in the workplace are generally motivated to use systems that assist them when performing their jobs. The researcher goes further to describe a technology acceptance model (TAM) derived from previous research that suggests that perceived usefulness of a technology has a significant positive effect on people’s intentions and that these intentions are formed towards behavior’s that are believed to bring an increase in their job performance. This hints at the reasoning behind the desire of employees wanting to use smartphones and tablets for business use.

Technology companies have also started directing their business focus toward mobile computing technologies to keep up with this trend. In February 2014, incoming Microsoft CEO stated in an email to Microsoft employees “Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world.” [54]. The significance of this statement is that it comes from a software company, which is arguably the global technology leader in terms of Personal Computer operating systems for both consumers as well as enterprise use. Microsoft’s business model is greatly centered on the company’s desktop operating system Microsoft Windows which still holds the majority of market share within its class of personal computer operating systems. This statement nonetheless hints that the company has realized the growing demands for mobile computing and has made the observation that future innovations for its software should consider incorporating mobile features.

In 2011, information security research firm Goode Intelligence conducted a mobile device survey covering various security related themes [55]. One-hundred and thirty respondents took part in the survey and were a mix of Information Security and IT Management professionals from government, healthcare, finance, technology and manufacturing industries globally. This was the third survey of its kind conducted annually by the company. One of the key findings from the survey was that 71 percent of the respondents stated that their organizations allowed personally-owned mobile devices to be used for company business, meaning that this practice occurred at just over two thirds of the surveyed companies. The results of the previous year’s findings were also just over two thirds, proving that the figures were consistent and that a fairly high percentage of organizations allowed this.

Further analysis from the 2011 Goode Intelligence survey examined mobile adoption to determine the dominant mobile platforms used in organizations [55]. They had found that, the use of Symbian was present in 24 percent of the surveyed organizations, 41 percent of the surveyed organizations used Windows Phone, 65 percent Android, 70 percent BlackBerry and 77 percent used iOS. Of particular interest, Google’s Android was only present in 16 percent of organizations from the survey done by the company in the previous year showing a sharp rise in Android organizational use in 2011. This coincides with the previously discussed Statista market share report when the Android platform showed a sharp increase [37] and thus strengthening the premise that consumer mobile device popularity increases the likelihood of organizational use.

2.3.2.

Organizational Use of Mobile Devices within Universities

While educational institutions were overlooked in the Goode Intelligence survey, an indication of mobile device adoption in universities is presented in various reports. As an example, Long Island University in the United States begun a pilot program in 2010 which provides Apple iPad tablet devices to incoming students as well as academic faculty members [56]. The cost of these devices are included into first year student fees and existing students are allowed the option to purchase the tablets at half price. The CIO and project manager of the initiative mentions that one of the primary goals was to use the tablets as a replacement for traditional textbooks but the main barrier to accomplishing this was that the publishing platforms and textbook industries have not yet agreed

on a standard for doing so. It is believed that this will happen in the near future but in the meantime, they are finding the devices useful in other ways.

The use of an iOS application called iSeismometer is one such example. A graduate student from Long Island University’s Earth Science faculty created iSeismometer for the purposes of conducting academic research. The App uses the iPad or iPhone device’s built-in accelerometer to collect seismic data for later research [56]. There are traces of the application’s use in other medical academic literature as well. In a recent medical academic journal, iSeismometer is used to measure neuromuscular functions in patients [57]. This demonstrates the versatile use cases for mobile devices across a range of educational disciplines to facilitate learning, making the appeal for widespread use across higher education apparent.

Within South African university institutions, a similar drive toward personally-owned laptop and more importantly tablet PC use already exists. The Student Technology Program (STP)⁵, which is an initiative negotiated by the Association of South African University Directors of Information Technology (ASAUDIT) offers students and staff from South African public universities affordable deals on laptop and tablet PC’s. There are instructions on ASAUDIT’s web site of how to place orders and a list of available devices, which include a range of Windows as well as Android tablets.

2.3.3.

Summary

This chapter provides evidence that smartphones and tablets are being used globally both in industry by employees as well as by students in universities for various purposes. Unlike in the past, where IT Departments were chiefly in control of device procurement, the use of these technologies are motivated for by the users themselves, Disterer and Kleiner [50] refers to the practice as “user-driven innovation”. These examples of business use of personally-owned mobile devices clearly show the extensive advantages for their usage and why employees or students would want to leverage these benefits.

5 http://www.stp.ac.za/what-is-stp.html

The benefits of personally-owned mobile devices for organizations include increased user adoption of technology and reduced hardware costs benefits. Organizations also benefit from increased user availability with devices being mobile and as such, users are able to retrieve business information from almost any location. Lastly, mobile devices offer flexibility for both staff and students in university environments allowing users the option to choose their own tools which ultimately increases productivity. What is not entirely clear, is if the users or organizations are aware of the risks introduced to their organizations by the practice of BYOD.