Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) seems an inescapable reality at this point for most enterprises, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still work to be done by the IT department to make it a manageable scenario. Here are ten rapid-fire strategies to adopt to make BYOD more workable in your environment.
Tablet user picture from Shutterstock
This list comes from a presentation by analyst Marcus Blosch at the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit, which I’m covering as part of our ongoing World Of Servers series. Understandably the focus was on how enterprise architects can influence BYOD strategy, but most of these tips are equally applicable to network managers and other IT pros. As Blosch pointed out: “The idea that the IT organisation can control people and their behaviour has become very quickly a thing of the past.”
- Mandate data formats, not tools People can edit documents however they like, but you need rules around which formats that can use.
- Maximise freedom of choice A BYOD policy that only allows one style of device will still be avoided.
- Move data into the cloud Accessing data online eliminates format worries.
- License individuals, not devices If someone wants to change phones every three months, that’s their problem.
- Authenticate people and applications Devices can swap between multiple individuals, so you need to authenticate both.
- Embrace open standards Closed data formats are harder to share across multiple platforms.
- Manage information, not applications Data is where the real business value is.
- Ensured data is encrypted whenever possible Security on mobile devices is tricky, but this helps.
- Don’t try to control what you don’t own.
- Be ‘can do’, not ‘can’t do’ That’s always a good rule for IT.
Lifehacker’s World Of Servers sees me travelling to conferences around Australia and around the globe in search of fresh insights into how server and infrastructure deployment is changing in the cloud era. This week, I’m in London for the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit, looking at how to plan and deploy your overall enterprise architecture for maximum business value and efficiency.
Comments
2 responses to “10 Fast Tips To Make BYOD Work Better”
Large corporations are already talking about how BYOD is a failure because the organisation has lost control of their data. Gartner has no idea what they are talking about
Not true at all… BYOD implemented incorrectly leads to spectacular failure, done properly its fine. Examples would be using tech like XenDesktop, Windows To Go and others…
If you just let people use whatever laptop they bring in like a corporate owned device, then yeah thats just stupid.
Licensing for BYOD is a whole new ball game, simply licensing the user doesn’t allow them to use non corporate owned devices as is the idea with BYOD. With Microsoft you will need a CSL for users to use personal phones, tablets (Android or iOS) and laptops to access the corporate resources.
My school has just started running a BYOD program through which they offer our schools desktop image through vWorkspace and it’s working great.
I’m not convinced BYOD with big companies will really take hold. From everything I’ve read (and experienced while building my own small biz) BYOD really works on a small scale for smaller businesses, especially startups where spending $2k on a machine for someone is a pretty big expense. We took a different approach and just got everyone virtual dekstops through solvco.com so they have the same systems and files to share for continuity, but still have freedom and access.
All good tips for enterprise BYOD. I think when it comes to BYOD and the consumerization of IT, approaching BYOD with the standard network security strategies will lead to failure. IT departments are going to have to become very innovative by whether using MDM or working with new approaches like API integration. Our hospital is a good example of this; as we are taking a HIPAA compliant texting API by Tigertext called TigerConnect, and putting it together with a secure email API and the Dropbox API to make a security app that all the staff and doctors will install on their phones and tablets to ensure HIPAA compliance and security. This is not a standard IT network security approach, but it does fit the new direction in IT security that BYOD is steering network security in.