This white paper
from Stylusinc
addresses on
how to introduce
BYOD programs
in an enterprise
and how an IT
department can
implement a
practical and a
secure strategy.
BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE
Exploiting business potential in the age of IT consumerization
Consumerization of IT is inevitably moving forward and more and more companies are encouraging their employees to bring their own device (BYOD) to work place. Motivated largely by the buzz surrounding the trend, companies of all size in all industries are deploying BYOD initiatives. However, one of the unusual things about this trend is that businesses are often unclear about the reasons for deploying BYOD. Though the practice of bringing your device promotes productivity and has the potential to save on hardware costs, sometimes the options available to manage personal devices can be confusing. This white paper is intended to give an insight on how to introduce BYOD programs and how IT departments can implement a practical and secure strategy and offer the convenience and business agility that mobile devices provide.
Table of contents
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Introduction………3
Preparing for BYOD program………..3
Benefits for the enterprise………4
BYOD challenges………..5
BYOD-a secure possibility………..6
Business objectives and targeted benefits………..6
Broader IT Strategy………..6
Mobile Device Management (MDM)………6
Secure container or sandbox……….7
Mobile Application Management (MAM)………7
Desktop Virtualization………..7
Introduction
The rising use of personal technologies for work related activities has coined the phrase ‘Bring Your Own Device ‘(BYOD). BYOD isn't just about allowing personal devices into corporate facilities; it also encompasses using individually owned mobile devices to access enterprise IT resources and data. Organizations are increasingly focusing attention on the productivity of their workforce. Being able to perform work whenever and wherever is a key prerequisite and driver for success leads to an increased significance in staff engagement and performance. Though BYOD can provide distinct benefits, IT managers need to be clear on how to implement it. Through a clear approach you can create flexible yet secure BYOD
environment that increases efficiency, less operating cost and more productivity.
Preparing for BYOD program
The use of personal device as business tool changed from a largely forbidden activity to an acceptable practice. It is clear that the rise in popularity of personal smartphone devices is making its mark on the office environment. While choosing a mobile technology solution, a comprehensive enterprise mobility strategy needs to be in place. Business objectives and targeted benefits must be identified, leading to decisions on which devices are to be included
and in what manner. Security and audit requirements must be taken into account and all must sit below a broadly coherent IT strategy. As a first step devices need to be registered so that users can securely and seamlessly access corporate data. To secure the sensitive data, it’s important to determine which corporate applications can be accessed from an employee-owned device.
IT departments need to be able to manage device and access policies, preferably from a single point of control, so IT can ensure security policies and also able to remotely wipe
corporate data if the device lost or any kind of malfunction happened. Make sure access is easy for authorized users. BYOD can also result in much higher cellular data charges for an enterprise if not managed correctly. While you are evaluating the organization and preparing your implementation plan, start thinking about
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Exploiting business potential in the age of IT consumerization
future BYOD policies. IT managers should strictly monitor to reduce the mobile data cost down. A dedicated Wi-Fi provider can be a cost-effective option. By considering the capabilities of vendors, mobility platform architecture, enterprise app strategy and enterprise infrastructure strategy, companies can enjoy the many benefits of allowing BYOD.
Benefit for the enterprise
What are the benefits of introducing BYOD officially in an organization and who all are really benefiting from it?
In order for organizations to embrace and implement BYOD, there has to be a compelling business case to support it and the rewards must outweigh the risks. In today’s fast moving world, BYOD will definitely improve work/life integration. This will benefit the end users to a great extent. It allows more choice and freedom to use devices for work which fit their
preferences and working styles. Unlike past,
and life reduces complexity for them, improves user experience, increases satisfaction and engagement.
Most businesses do not operate in pure BYOD environments, opting instead to pay for some or all of their employees’ service plans and maintenance costs. Additionally, many
businesses do not understand the complexity of BYOD and end up running into problems once the plans get off the ground. But organizations can take advantage from BYOD. It can be effectively implemented as a business enabler not just a cost saver. Business can be benefited and overall productivity can be improved by empowering real talents (staff) with BYOD. With effective BYOD, a company can boost employee satisfaction by allowing workers to perform work-related tasks on the platforms of their
choice. This applies to personal computers in addition to smartphones and tablets. BYOD also allows an enterprise to attract and support new talent. The flexibility provided by BYOD - especially when combined with work-from-home opportunities - can be a major selling point for a company looking to hire new workers. This will allow the company to attract applicants who are best suited for their
business. Now people have become more accustomed to web-based communication. Using their personal devices, employees can email, text, chat and even hold video
conferences with their co-workers regardless of location.
BYOD is an opportunity to relieve the IT
department from the lifecycle management of IT devices. With greater knowledge of their own devices, less user training is needed, and less support calls can be expected to the IT Service Desk. By letting employees pay for their own hardware and internet or data plans, the company has effectively unloaded a great deal of expenses that it would otherwise be
responsible for.
BYOD challenges
Past years have seen spike in interest in BYOD with more and more organizations are
exploiting the business potential of BYOD. But BYOD access task is dauntingly complex, and new unforeseen consequences are cropping up
regularly bringing new security challenges for IT A big challenge is to successfully manage
work-related task on personally owned devices. Concerns arise when corporate data
commingles with personal data. With the device being used for both personal and work tasks, it’s not just the user’s data that’s at risk, but the organizations too.
Accommodating a diverse inventory of mobile devices is another major challenge. With new devices with frequently upgrading services, the ability to manage and secure devices running on different operating systems is a tough task. Enforcing different policies for different user types by effectively enforcing policies for both personally owned and corporate provisioned devices is an important piece of MDM puzzle. IT managers must be able to equally grant and deny device access to network resources regardless of whether those devices are personally owned or provisioned by the organization
IT staff will be in more trouble as how to manage and secure multiple platforms of which they have limited visibility and control.
Exploiting business potential in the age of IT consumerization
Exploiting business potential in the age of IT consumerization
BYOD Challenges
1. Successfully managing work-related task on personally owned devices 2. Accommodating a diverse inventory of mobile devices 3. Effectively enforcing different policies for different user types 4. Minimizing the administrative burden of BYOD on staff
Supporting all aspects of mobility landscape is yet another major challenge the IT is facing.
BYOD-a secure possibility
A growing number of businesses may seek to implement managed IT services to help them control their mobility strategy, as the use of
personal devices in the workplace is set to grow. The growth of home computing and new
mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets, has led to a business demand for simpler, easier business computing to match home use. Now there is a real demand for businesses to open up their closed corporate networks to allow access to the workforces own computing devices. However, no matter how working practices change, the fundamentals remain the same. Security of the data is critical. Organizations have developed a range of software solutions available to secure BYOD and mange associated risks.
Business objectives and targeted benefits: For
setting requirements for enabling technology, a clear view of business objectives and targeted benefits should be there. If BYOD is primarily intended to increase employee satisfaction more time should be spent to understand what solution will best suit for end users. But if inclined more towards cost reduction, then the price of solution will feature more prominently in requirements.
Broader IT Strategy: A number of organizations
with more mature BYOD strategies emphasize the need to complement the broader IT agenda
Mobile Device Management (MDM): Mobile
device management is typically considered by organizations in need of a comprehensive mobile solution that incorporates a corporate app store and shared document libraries. It allows for a broader approach to productivity than merely providing access to email and calendar, which is the most common level of mobile access today. This solution enables the remote administration and enrolment of managed mobile devices. MDM solutions are designed to allow IT to manage mobile devices, and most MDM solutions enable IT to manage multiple platforms.
Secure container or sandbox: This application
mainly aims at securing specific apps used for business purposes. Under this, each mobile application is executed in its own separate environment. Each application is allocated its own separate storage space, is assigned to run in a specific memory location and is entitled to perform only specific set of device
functionalities. It prevents one application from accessing another applications storage and memory. It helps in successfully managing work-related task on personally owned devices
Mobile Application Management (MAM): It
refers to software and services that accelerate and simplify the creation of internally
developed corporate mobile applications. MAM secures corporate data on mobile devices, regardless of ownership. By offering enterprise-grade, app-specific security, App Center
provides a unified platform for addressing diverse enterprise mobility needs, simply and seamlessly, that enables user productivity while protecting enterprise data.
Desktop Virtualization: Desktop virtualization
offers access to the desktop experience of an enterprise PC from a range of devices accessed through a client-server relationship. All
processing is performed on the server and a simple visual output is sent to the user device with the receiver software installed. The security of these solutions are considered to be strong as data resides on data center and with a single-sign-on employees can access a range of web-based applications without entering password for each.
These are the few lists of security options that an enterprise can choose to support BYOD. Whatever the solutions the organizations must incorporate it into their wider enterprise architecture. Educating employees on
appropriate security behavior is also important as it ensures the technology does its job well.
Conclusion
In today’s workplace, workers are increasingly expecting employers to be more flexible in their practices. As such, BYOD seems more like an inevitable solution than an up-and-coming trend of the moment. BYOD may not be the right choice for every employee or every company, but it is much more probable that enterprises will operate alongside enterprise devices schemes. Organizations have to weigh up the productivity benefits this brings against the major security challenges it incurs. BYOD is not just about infrastructure; it is also about policies whose definition requires the involvement of all parts of the organization.
Stylus provides everything you need for BYOD
from a single source. This helps reduce complexity, implementation time and risk. Moreover, we give our customers all the flexibility they need to select the most
appropriate sourcing option or combination.
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