BYOD Essay - Grade: A+ PDF

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essay on the emergence and growing prevalence of BYOD in the workplace. history, emergence, prevalence and future implication are all explored...

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Bring Your Own Device IS 2100: 8 AM

12/2/2014

Since the start of the modern era, corporate firms have dedicated segments of their budget to supplying their teams with the devices necessary to complete their jobs. As technology has become more sophisticated and accessible, however, companies have recognized the benefit of allowing their workers to utilize their own equipment. This strategy is known as bring your own device, or BYOD, and is becoming a growing trend in businesses across the globe. Bring your

own device generally entails employees supplying their own phone, tablets, and laptops for work purposes. Though BYOD does come with its setbacks, it also provides many advantages to both companies and the workers. It allows companies to decrease costs; and from the employee viewpoint, increases morale and overall satisfaction. Both the company and employee, also benefit from increase productivity. Companies’ main objective is to increase profits and reduce costs. One of the most expensive costs for businesses is technology. By letting the workers bring their own devices, companies eliminate the expenses of maintaining hardware and can invest that money elsewhere in the business. Mobile Enterprise states, “In allowing employees to connect their own devices to the network, the enterprise also shifts the liability for the device onto the employee” (Caldwell, pg. 118). The employee will have to bear the cost of maintenance to their devices in the case of an overload or any viruses. Not only will this shift the problems to the workers it will also decrease the workload for the IT departments. Therefore companies can cut costs further by decreasing IT departments’ sizes. Along with the companies benefiting the workers also gain from BYOD. BYOD improves employee morale. Employees feel as if they have a voice in the business when BYOD is implemented in corporations. Waterfill states, “Employees select the personal devices they carry for a reason, and that is because they desired the device enough to invest their money in it” (Waterfill, pg. 4). Therefore employees are happy with their device choices. Also employees tend to take better care of things they have invested their own money in. BYOD allows employees to work on devices and use different applications they are familiar with versus having an unfamiliar

device forced upon them. Another satisfaction BYOD brings to the employees is the flexibility in working hours. Now working on their own personal device employees do not have to be in the office to get work done. They now have the opportunity to be mobile with their work. BYOD decreases the traditionally extensive hours large businesses are accustom to. Increased productivity from BYOD is beneficially for both the business and its employees. Increased productivity occurs because employees are more comfortable with their own devices. BYOD increases customer satisfaction “with the ability to respond at any time” (Waterfill, pg. 4). An increase in consumer satisfaction makes companies more competitive. Waterfill explains, “Employees will be more innovative because of the ability to collaborate and share ideas at any given moment and from any place” (Waterfill, pg. 4). New creative ideas also give companies an edge over competitors. Finally, increased productivity effectively helps meet corporate goals. Although the businesses reap the initial benefits of increased productivity, employees receive the lasting impression. Employers are more willing to praise and honor its employees when earning more profits. Repeatedly meeting corporate goals allows for more flexibility and leniency for the employees. While the advantages to employing BYOD strategy are great, it is also important to note the disadvantages. From the security concerns that come with BYOD, to the cost of managing and supporting this trend, there are certain drawbacks that should be taken into consideration by companies wishing to implement this strategy. For one, the issue of lost or stolen devices. Though the average consumer uses their digital devices to store only pictures, music, videos and messages, several precautions are taken to safeguard against data leaks should their devices fall into the wrong hands. Knowing this, one can only imagine the precautions a company would take to protect their company emails, financial records and other data that would be at risk

through BYOD. Marketing Manager of Point to Point, Alex Wood, suggests a more restrictive iteration of BYOD to safeguard against leaks. “Organizations need to decide whether to fully embrace the BYOD ethos or restrict it ever so slightly. For example, are you going to allow Android devices or just Apple?” he says, suggesting that limiting what type of devices are able to access the company’s network will protect it (Wood, 69). But in today’s technological landscape, an employee is likely to use a device running any program from Windows to IOS to Android so restricting access to only one platform would not be the most practical approach. One idea suggested by Smart Insights is smart mobile authentication devices; “ a solution that would ensure that only the right person with the right information and access privileges could access corporate data” (Hudson). This would require specialized software that was able to recognize and differentiate authorized users from security breaches. The issue here, which happens to be the other main issue with BYOD is the cost. BYOD is at its core, a business solution designed to cut costs and drive up productivity. The extra expenses necessary to implement these smart authorizations and other security measures, companies would not be saving money. In fact, when one factors in the cost of keeping the different devices on the different platforms secure and up-to-date with the latest industry programs, it’s reasonable to think that the money the company could save by allowing their employees to bring their own devices would be spent anyway.

Negatives also exist from the employee’s perspective with the implementation of the BYOD strategy. If anything should happen to an employee’s device, whether it be lost, damaged or stolen, the fact that there was company data on the device could make the employee responsible for not only replacing the device for themselves, but also for the misplaced

information on it. They could also be held liable if anything were to happen to the company’s network as a result of their individual device usage. Since the employee would be using their device on both their personal time and work time, information from any local network they access could be brought back to their company’s network. For example, if an employee used their device at Starbucks and acquired a virus then the virus spread itself to the workspace, the employee can held responsible for any damage done to companies servers and devices. Bring your own device policies have grown from the outlier to the ever evolving norm in today’s business world. BYOD programs are being introduced to companies all over the globe, with the overwhelming majority of employees and employers accepting it with open arms. This is mostly because many employees already carry or own a personal device. Because they are familiar with how it operates, business activities are easier to perform. (Williams, 2013). If this trend continues, it could ultimately lead to more productive offices, and therefore a more profitable company. As of today, 66% of all companies, worldwide, allow (or sometimes even require) their employees to bring their own devices to work every day. Bring your own device policies are spreading across the globe at such a rapid rate, it is proposed that 70% of professionals will use their own device by 2018. (McCafferty, 2014). A representative from Colgate says this is because “mobility is the wave of the future.” According to a survey conducted among office workers, 37% of employees already used their personal devices for business without company permission. Until early this year, only 1,000 of Colgate’s senior managers were allowed to use companyissued BlackBerrys to access their corporate servers outside the office. Colgate realized that the age of wired technology was over and that they needed to change policies in order to keep up with the ever changing business world (Hof, 2011).

Companies are actualizing “bring your own device” programs to first save money, and increase work production. Costs are cut dramatically within companies that have these policies because they do not have to purchase technology. Employees most likely either already have, or plan on purchasing a mobile device that is capable to handle their workload. Some companies are also saving money by making the employees pay the data and service fees for the device out of their pocket. A survey done by Good Technology found that 50% of companies with BYOD policies do not pay for data fees. 24% of companies offer a stipend toward service and device costs, and 19% let eligible employees expense their costs. 7% pay for the device, but no service fees. Samsung conducted a similar survey, and found varying results. This survey found that 28% of the companies paid nothing for employee phones and plans, and 39% of the companies formerly paid for mobile costs or reimbursed them. 31% informally either reimbursed or paid for mobile phone and services (Gohring, 2013). Certain companies that do not pay for device service may run into conflicts later down the road. If BYOD policies keep expanding the way they have, companies may find that they will have to pay for data and service charges for all employee devices. Even so, the money spent on service will still more than likely be less than purchasing devices for employees. When talking about BYOD policies another major topic to take into consideration is company security. When companies purchase their own devices, they are able to monitor what is being done on them, as well as install their own security measures. Employees having the ability to bring their own devices to work causes for a major potential security issue. Many companies are making it mandatory to install certain security protocols in order to protect their sensitive information. One key player in this aspect is Exchange ActiveSync. This particular sync protocol is run by Microsoft, and allows devices running Windows to sync all emails, calendars, contacts,

etc. They use the Microsoft Exchange Server to connect all devices on a cloud-type server. “This particular cloud server allows each user to configure Exchange ActiveSync to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for communications between the Exchange server and the mobile device” (Microsoft, 2013). With technology changing at such a quick pace, these policies are evolving and improving as well. In fact, Google believes that their Google Glass, and other similar products, will change the new policy changes in the future. For now, the already existing policies may be enough, but as wearable technology becomes more and more prominent, policies implemented by IT departments will need to evolve to integrate that kind of technology into their scope (Poremba, 2013). Companies are expected to save money, increase work productivity, and maintain a better work environment when these BYOD policies are in effect. Allowing staff and other personnel to bring their own devices sounds good in theory, but all this extra hardware and software still needs to be coherent with the companies’ current structure and protocols. All of this must be done while still being able to have a sense of control over what employees are accessing. An article written by Jeffrey Burk of eWeek claims that by 2017, 38% of all companies will no longer provide their employees with devices and implement only BYOD solutions (Burt, 2013). This will lead to a race, starting now, for a BYOD overhaul to take effect in the market. Luckily, there are several large software and security-based enterprises that currently offer their smart solutions to help integrate a secure BYOD system into the company. Cisco, one of the largest networking corporations in the world, offers their own system to other companies called the “BYOD Smart Solution”. They claim that “access and device policies must be defined and enforced for all authorized devices” (Cisco, 2014). They can create an

effective approach to integrating outside devices onto a local network securely. “The Cisco BYOD Solution is designed to simplify and scale mobile device access by combining best-inclass technology, a validated design, modular building blocks, professional services, and end-toend support” (Cisco, 2014). Their infrastructure includes access points, controllers, security, network management, and mobile collaboration applications. Mobile devices will make up a majority, if not all, of a company’s BYOD infrastructure and Cisco claims to provide a “33 percent mobile device connection” (Cisco, 2014) with their system in place. Cisco claims to not only add BYOD devices, but also offer to simplify IT operations and to help secure data with “intelligent controls” to their setup . Cisco is selling security, speed, and simplicity in one, clean package. Another software juggernaut, IBM, brings together four critical steps to get off the ground with BYOD. The first step is to plan. This simply means to think about who and what devices you want to give certain privileges to and allow in certain networks. This is also where you begin to figure out an estimate for the total IT support needed. The second step is to secure and manage. IBM states that “71 percent of CEOs and IT managers say that security is their most significant mobile enterprise challenge” (IBM, 2014). Smartphones with a business’s data is extremely volatile to being lost or falling into the wrong hands. The mobile enterprise system must be able to control connections like these. Communicating your policy is step three. Due to these stolen devices, a large percentage of organizational data has been lost or stolen from a mobile device. Making sure that everyone is clear on what devices and security features are allowed can help prevent these incidents from ever occurring. The final step is to offer support. “This is where you need to invest up-front to gain the long-term benefit of granting your employees access through personal devices” (IBM, 2014).

A third company claims to have the best mobile security on the market. The company is called Mobile Active Defense, or MAD, and they claim to have solved several problems that their customers identify as their primary areas of concern regarding BYOD. This list includes filtering of corporate data only, containerization, the ability to wipe corporate data, and legal concerns (MAD, 2014). Making security easy to understand for users, unifying an approach to integrating mobile systems into the workplace, and creating a safer, controllable environment for every user can help reduce or eliminate these problems. They also recognize that a mobile device management system (MDMS) does not solve their secure mobility problem and that that these systems require solutions that only they provide. MAD provides Mobile Enterprise Compliance and Security Servers (MECS) to work in conjunction with current network resources such as Mobile Device and Mobile Application Management Systems. This “allows organizations to extend their corporate desktop security policies to mobile devices, treating them like any other computer on the network surfing over the corporate firewall” (MAD, 2013). Many companies have been successful in implementing their own BYOD policies. One main pillar in insuring that the BYOD policies are lucrative in a company is determining specific devices that are allowed and effective. Many companies publish a living list of approved devices that may be changed and updated as new technology arises. Some overwhelmingly popular device companies are Apple, Android, and Blackberry. In the past, companies like IBM, Cisco, and Microsoft monopolized the business technology industry. They marketed their products to big companies with the overall company’s profit being their selling point. As the industry changes and becomes more consumer- based, Apple is rising among the ranks as one of the top product companies (Reisenger, 2014). The California based company has proven that their products are consumer, and company friendly.

Their best- selling products such as the iPad, iPhone, iPad Mini have all ascended to the top of similar products on the market now. The Apple iPad has been a consumer favorite ever since its first release in 2010. Its unique iOS operating system has proven to be user friendly, compatible with most documents, and convenient with its cloud sharing technology (Gownder, 2014).

Another company who has made leaps and bounds in the mobile device industry is Android. Closely behind Apple, Android has also proven its capability over the past few years. In 2011, an unforeseen product failure set the company’s technology growth back minutely. Surprisingly, Android has climbed its way back to the top; in a recent survey Android smart phones were voted the most popular consumer owned devices (eWeek, 2012). According to this survey, the employees utilizing these devices are able to use more sophisticated apps such as ones for time management, expense tracking, and resource planning. Android operating systems are able to perpetuate more practical apps because it is not as straight forward as the iOS from Apple. Tried and true from the beginning of the mobile device revolution, Blackberry still remains a contender for the top consumer device company. They were one of the key players in the initial mobile device surge, and now they are coming back bigger, and better than before. They realized that the reason other companies surpassed them in the consumer device world was because their policies in place were not entirely “enterprise mobile.” Enterprise mobility is the goal of all BYOD policies; they are in place to ensure complete flexibility and variability of the company. Blackberry’s new Blackberry 10 operating system is designed to incorporate more mobility than was thought of before. It will adjust problems that were originally associated with aspects of security, device encryption, and email management (Song, 2013.) Most devices are capable of doing routine workplace tasks such as checking email, but only a few are able to incorporate the entire agenda. Many companies pre select devices that employees can use as their personal devices at work. Pre Selecting devices makes it easier to

manage, encrypt, and secure all devices because their operation system is probably a well-known one. Apple, Android, and Blackberry have all risen to the top of the consumer device companies because they have proven that their devices work, and work efficiently. Many companies have proven success stories using these devices, and many more will follow suit. BYOD policies can only be effective if they are implemented properly, using compatible devices. Corporations across the globe have found what works for them through trial and error. Some corporations even hire a third party company to implement their own BYOD policies. Bring your own device policies are infiltrating the world’s business sector faster than ever before. It will not be long until 90% of all companies allow, or maybe even require the use of personal devices in the workplace. BYOD policies definitely have their pros and cons, but through trial and error, they can become profitable strategies for any company. With technology becoming more and more advanced every day, it can only be assumed that the BYOD policies will therefore have to become more advanced. Google estimates that their Google Glass will change those already existing policies sooner rather than later. Only time will tell how far BYOD policies will take companies in the future, but one thing is for sure, BYOD policies are here to stay. References Android BlackBerry Smartphones Top BYOD Technologies Report 373759. (2012). eWeek, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/eds/detail/detail? sid=73f93936-67dd-4553-854643c921dec7...