Sitting at some Caribbean island, holding a can of beer in one hand and doing your office work on your tablet is no longer a dream for employees. More and more companies across the US are accepting BYOD culture and allowing their employees to work from wherever they feel comfortable simply on the condition that this does not hamper company's revenue.
Sitting at some Caribbean island,
holding a can of beer in one hand and doing your office work on your tablet is no longer a dream for employees. More and more companies across the US are accepting BYOD culture and allowing their employees to work from wherever they feel comfortable simply on the condition that this does not hamper company's revenue. BYOD culture has brought a complete alteration in the approach of people working in the offices. From the business's point of view, there are several tangible benefits of BYOD and some are mentioned underneath.
1. It reduces equipment cost
2. Increases employee satisfaction and efficiency
3. It sheds off the burden from IT team, as employees are responsible for maintenance of their devices
4. It allows business owners to run their business from a smaller office as the employees work remotely from their preferred sites
However, amongst these benefits one negative part of BYOD concept is that it exposes company's confidential data to illegal breach and access. Insecure BYOD is like having a desktop without an anti-virus in it. Using personal mobile device for official work is riskier than using a desktop without an anti-virus most mobile devices lack pre-installed malware. This loophole gives a tremendous opening to hackers and infiltrators who are expert in developing new modes of breaching the security system of any server. They may use the old concept of the virus or the latest approaches such as Trojans, key loggers, phishing attack and malicious apps. Banning BYOD culture is the last solution to maintain data security and before that, there are several other steps to be initiated. These steps are utterly helpful in maintaining the secrecy of the data especially for a small business owner having a limited budget.
The first step is to define a strict protocol regarding the usage of personal devices at the office place. This should include acceptable rules of use and forbidden applications. A business owner should concentrate on the steps to avoid unsafe activities like browsing certain sites while connected to the company's network.
Second step is to make out how to protect BYOD devices with a password without snatching the freedom of using his device from the device owner.
Enforcing MDM system at the workplace is the best option, if your data requires robust security. MDM stands for Mobile Device Management, which provides a single centralized platform to manage all BYOD devices. MDM also becomes mandatory, if the IT team is having a tough time in securing every BYOD device arriving in the office. Let us review the most influential features of an effective MDM program.
1. Since, MDM is cloud based, updates are automatic and hassle free
2. It allows remote configuration and monitoring
3. It is capable of blacklisting, enforcing passwords and other security policies
4. It can facilitate backup and restoring functionality of the corporate data
5. It can prepare regular logs and reports for compliance purpose
6. It gives the authority to disconnect a device immediately, if it is found engaged in suspicious acts.
7. Because it is scalable, it is easy for new users to get added and compatible with it.
I have observed that present day businesses lay stress only on the concept of BYOD and its benefits. If they don’t find it beneficial or it appears as if compromising with the security, they simply ban it. They have no idea about MDM and its usage. Most of them don’t know that by using MDM they can implement a successful and secure BYOD culture in the office.
