Tackling the BYOX trend is the topic for Hans Zandbelt, Senior Technical Architect – CTO Office, Ping Identity.
With a recent report estimating that there will be more mobile devices than people by the end of 2013 , mobile technology has become an integral part of our lives both at home and at work. With regards to the latter, advancements in mobile technology now mean that many of us can do our jobs from practically anywhere and on any device. As a result, today’s tech-savvy workforce is regularly bringing their own devices and applications into the workplace, further blurring the boundary between work and home.
Our recent research provides further evidence that the ‘bring your own anything’ (BYOX) trend is gathering momentum, finding that 44 per cent of employees access up to five applications via their mobile work devices. While workers feel more empowered by bringing in their own devices and applications, it is creating a headache for IT departments as they are increasingly challenged with the task of securely managing a technology portfolio and the data it generates.
As the workforce increasingly relies on being able to work remotely, businesses have naturally extended applications beyond the realms of on-premise and into the cloud. To address the consumer led boom of mobile device and applications, businesses are faced with a challenging trade-off: how to guarantee perceived ease of access while also maintaining the required level of security. While allowing employees to use their new smartphone or tablet may not make them love their job more, the associated benefits these devices create, such as increased mobility, flexibility and empowerment will ultimately help employees feel happier.
Organisations that choose to ignore the wishes of their staff do so at their own peril. According to Gartner, 70 per cent of workers will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018 , but the reality is that these practices are already widely in use. BYOX is happening whether the IT department wants it or not. Avoiding BYOX because of perceived security risks is likely to have the opposite effect. IT managers should increase security around it to avoid employees seeking to find ways around security policies behind IT’s back.
To address the associated challenges of BYOX, it is important for enterprises to have a clear and well thought out mobile working policy. Ping Identity’s recent research also revealed that a lack of mobile working policies can lead to destructive consequences for businesses. When accessing work applications outside of the office, 45 per cent of respondents said there were no restrictions around what they could access. Even more worryingly, when asked if they’ve ever had a device lost or stolen which contained corporate data, nearly a third of respondents (32pc) said ‘yes’.
Deploying corporate devices, allowing remote working and enabling access to corporate applications is all very well, but if a business is not managing this closely, it could be a recipe for disaster, especially if a device falls into the wrong hands. Security measures must start with an individual’s identity, not the application they’re accessing, or device they’re using. To provide employees with the quick and direct access to the enterprise applications they are demanding, organisations are using single sign-on (SSO) technology to ensure their information and identities are protected. SSO also allows employees to access multiple cloud resources and applications using a single username and password, providing the convenience users want and the security enterprises need. At the same time SSO technology allows the IT department to turn off access to all connected corporate applications at once, which is an example of a control that increases security by leveraging user identity.
By putting identity at the forefront of the IT managers agenda, businesses are best placed to tackle the consumer led bring your own anything movement without upsetting arguably their most valuable asset – the workforce.
