Guest post written by Amit Pandey
It was 2003 when the popular Research In Motion BlackBerry smartphone was released, tethering business people to their email forever more. One of the collateral affects was a rather unexpected niche in the IT workforce; the BlackBerry people. Executives wanted work email on their new toy, so the IT people handing email became the BlackBerry people.
But things are not so simple in the age of Bring Your Own Device and the iPad, and those at the top of the chain need to be on the lookout for signs of a cage match brewing in the IT department.
In many cases, a land grab is under way to control growing aspects of the enterprise IT landscape, driven by a stunning pace of mobile change. A 2011 Morgan Stanley study found that more than 50% of enterprises were already issuing tablets, up from 21% the year before, while BYOD users had doubled to 16% in 2011. What’s at stake is not only leading a technology group that’s working together on the same page, but also the ability of your company to stay competitive by getting the most out of the rapidly evolving mobile market of enterprise solutions, securely and efficiently.
The center of potential conflict is who in the IT group should “own” mobile: the network infrastructure group, the security group, the desktop group, or the mobile group, when there is one. In a regulated industry like financial services, there is frequently a default to the security group to ensure compliance. In other industries, desktop groups are seeing their domain diminishing as tablets rise, and they wouldn’t mind taking over mobile responsibilities. But the mobile team frequently has little interest in taking on desktops.
At the same time, to effectively make decisions and act upon a BYOD plan of action, coordination between network infrastructure and mobile teams is indispensible. While network administrators are often loathe to open any new holes in the network - the ones need to adopt new devices - the mobile folks are always looking for something new to play with.
Here are few points to consider to head off conflict around BYOD policies:
- If you have the capacity, identify an individual to take responsibility for mobile on a full-time basis. The biggest reason is a company needs at least one person just to try to stay up with the pace of change. Beyond devices, the mobile software space is in a constant state of flux, and the regular changes that come from multiple vendors can mean massive changes to the network. If you don’t have the capacity to appoint a full-time person, know that whoever takes on management of BYOD policies will have to spend a lot of time keeping up with and managing the changes.
- When selecting someone to oversee your BYOD plans, pick a person who is very hands-on. They tend to be the people who have a collection of tools, devices and gadgets and are always testing the bounds of not only what is and what is not possible, but also secure, when it comes to the network. In addition to hands-on, you also want someone who is maniacally focused on the end-user. We recently were in conversation with a customer about security measures for mobile devices. They were considering a password system similar to their desktop password system, requiring capital letters and numbers in at least 8 characters. When you have the right person overseeing mobile, they have an innate sense of how to balance the user and the business needs appropriately. They would realize very quickly that a busy executive doesn’t have time for that on their iPhone or iPad.
- Support the person implementing the BYOD program. Often tension can arise with the workforce. They bought the device and want complete control, while the company is asking them to comply with certain policies and procedures. We have found that a “give to get” policy can be very helpful. If they register the device and comply with the guidelines, offer a stipend for their next device or upgrade, or offer them access to mobile applications like expense management that will make their lives a little easier.
- Find a happy medium. Try to let your employees do as much as you reasonably can on the devices they own that also access the corporate network. Restrict just the games and or applications that pose a security risk.
- If possible, buy the devices for them. Obviously, a lot of budgets won’t allow purchasing tablets or iPhones for everyone in the company. But when possible, you build in a higher level of license to impose guidelines when the company actually provides the devices.