Office IT policies that allow employees to “Bring Your Own Device” into the workplace have become hotly debated in enterprises across various sectors and geographies. Aside from the sporadic Facebook update, what are the business arguments being made by employees today and how do the benefits stack up against the IT risks? We talk to Dr. Tarig Enaya, General Manager at Cisco Saudi Arabia to get some answers.
In recent months, regional CIOs have found themselves in a particularly challenging position. Thanks to an array of technology innovations flooding the modern workplace, employees can work almost anywhere and anytime they need to provided that the right technology is there to support connectivity and more importantly, provide security.
The influx of such technology innovations has resulted in a notable shift in employee attitudes. Whether a junior hire or a senior executive, individuals are eager to capitalize on new devices as a way to be more productive and comfortable in their daily routines. The modern worker has become so accustomed to the ease-of-use of their own personal devices that they see no reason why they can’t use these tools for work as well as for play.
In allowing workers to bring their personal devices into the workplace, the term “bring-your-own-device” (referred to as “BYOD”) has come to inspire a new debate occurring in various industries. For example, with mobility and device use on the rise, a recent Cisco survey of over 600 IT leaders cited that by 2014, the average worker will interact with 3.3 connected devices, up from an average of 2.8 in 2012. What’s more, the survey found that BYOD is merely the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to gaining the full benefits of mobility. Over three-fourths (76%) of IT leaders surveyed categorized BYOD as somewhat or extremely positive for their organizations, while also acknowledging the need for new technology solutions to address emerging security threats and IT support requirements for multiple mobile platforms.
These findings underscore that BYOD is here to stay and IT managers are now acknowledging the need for a more holistic approach–one that is scalable and addresses mobility, security governance, virtualization and network policy management, in order to keep management costs in line while simultaneously providing optimal experiences and reaping savings. Flying in the face of traditional IT methodology, the reality is that IT managers are balancing security and support concerns with the very real potential to reap significant cost and productivity benefits from this “Bring Your Own Device” trend. Keeping this mind, it is important to look at some of the key factors that are driving the business case for making the move to BYOD.
Influx of Consumer Devices: With an explosive increase in more powerful consumer devices on the market, individuals today often have equally capable mobile device at home as in the workplace. In the last year particularly, the demands of individuals to leverage their tablet computers and smartphones to extend their productivity has led many IT departments to consider less restrictive policies. As per Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI), there will be more than 10 billion mobile Internet-connected devices in 2016 with mobile data traffic set to have a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 104% in the Middle East alone—more than any other region. This trend is likely irreversible and every IT organization will need to quickly adapt to the consumer device phenomenon.
Multiple Needs and Multiple Devices: Given the various needs that different devices serve, most employees today carry multiple devices. For example, a laptop is not as portable as a smartphone, so people are likely to carry their smartphone for mobile communications. Tablets are powerful devices as well, but it is likely laptops and PCs will still be used for document creation and publishing. If these cannot be connected through a shared network, productivity is likely to go down as users forego certain actions because accessibility.
Work and Personal Overlap: Increasingly, work is an activity that people do, not a place to which they go. Extended connectivity through mobile and remote access to the corporate network gives employees tremendous flexibility and increased productivity. It also leads to a blurring of the line between work time and personal time, with employees trading set work schedules for the flexibility of working when and where they want to. Many employees are willing to use their personal tablet or smartphone, for example, to access work applications. The effect of this device overlap is that corporate and personal data will be increasingly shared across multiple devices, leading to security and privacy challenges.
Anywhere, Anytime Mobility: It is estimated that mobile devices and the traffic they create on networks will increase by 26 times between 2010 and 2015, driven by more powerful smartphones and tablets. The more employees can easily access work using WiFi and mobile networks, the more widespread and cost-effective these networks will become. The end result is pervasive connectivity anywhere and anytime, which if being offered by your business competitors, puts you at a clear disadvantage in the mobile era.
Video, Collaboration, and Rich Media Applications: Work and personal communications both increasingly use rich media applications, and today’s collaborative device applications will continue to increase the use of rich media. As bandwidth for available 4G and WiFi services increase, applications transmitting HD media streams will likely become more common and cost-effective, enabling employees to easily balance work and personal needs through a single cross-functional device.
Key considerations for BYOD adoption
As the move to BYOD becomes a reality for businesses of all sizes, organizations must understand the overarching challenge associated with any BYOD implementation which is ensuring protection of corporate data. If a corporate asset, such as a laptop, is used to access business applications and data, typically that asset is tightly controlled by IT and likely subject to more restrictive usage policies. But what about employee-owned tablets or smartphones being used for personal access and business applications? As more employees become mobile workers and try to use these devices to access company assets outside the traditional ‘four walls’ of the enterprise, the potential for data loss grows.
As a result, organizations must work on protecting business data on all devices, regardless of how workers access information. The key to enabling any device in the enterprise, whether it’s company owned or brought from home, is identity management. This involves understanding who’s using the device, where they are using it and what information they are accessing.
For example, enterprises welcoming newer devices such as tablets into the workplace will need new methods for device management (e.g. wiping data from lost devices). Just as they have for smartphones and laptops, employees who want to use their personal device of choice for work must accept that the enterprise, for security reasons, retains certain rights in order to protect corporate data. These processes are becoming more developed as the practice of enterprise mobility and the devices themselves become increasingly widespread. By clearly visualizing the information you’re trying to protect and how it’s being accessed, companies will be able to make a stronger case for—or against—investments in device management services.
Regardless of the outcome, a strategic decision is needed to shift the “security” conversation away from specific devices and toward a BYOD strategy with access based more clearly on the user, role, and the device type.
Weighing the arguments
The specific demands of an organization’s industry segment and the entity’s own corporate culture tend to drive BYOD decisions. One common theme among organizations moving toward the practice of BYOD is that there is buy-in from top executives who are helping not only to bring the matter to the forefront in the company, but also drive it further.
Cisco itself is embarking on its own journey to BYOD, with the ultimate goal to become a true ‘virtual enterprise’ in which employees are fully location and service-independent. We have had to learn quickly that this transformation requires both long-term commitment and thorough employee engagement across the organization. It requires understanding the fundamental motivations for BYOD amongst one’s staff and whether it is something truly valued in their personal and professional lives.
Ultimately, the benefits to any organization that embraces BYOD initiatives can be lucrative. The ability to quickly respond to user needs, boost user productivity, realize significant cost savings and enable greater collaboration within the enterprise are but a few of the benefits that can be reaped from this growing trend.
