Data Centers and network services have grown so advanced that today any place can become your office. Working from remote locations is no more a thing of tomorrow. There is a sudden shift in the demand for network access and availability anytime, anywhere. Many people are even crying out for internet as free basics. One of the facet of network accessibility is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) - a buzzing corporate culture today.
Many large organizations have adopted BYOD concept because it offers multiple advantages; the major one being the lesser investment needs. Apparently, when the employees are using their own laptops/devices, the employer will be saving a huge capital. Moreover, people do not need to rush to work and travel a long distance. The employees are able to work from outside the office, even from their home. This also improves the productivity of the employees as they are allowed to work in the desired environment as well on the desired device. With BYOD, business communication becomes much easier and faster. The employees’ responsiveness get enhanced too as they can reply on mails from any remote location.
Looking to the other side of coin, BYOD has few serious challenges and the prime one is SECURITY.
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Lost/stolen device: There is much likeliness that an employee leaves his laptop in a hotel room or miss his mobile-phone in a taxi. Imagine if these lost or stolen devices fall into the hands of a wrong person, the sensitive information contained in these devices may be misused. This may even cause an irreparable damage to the company.
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Failure to update Software/hardware: We all know the importance of keeping all the software updated on the device to fend off any threat, but most of us fail to perform periodic updates.
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Non-Secured devices: Securing your device with PIN lock is another significant step to ensure the safety of confidential business information. There is a chance that your data on the device may be accessed by an unauthorized person when it is not locked. In such case, the data may go missing in the blink of an eye.
These are just few of many BYOD challenges. There are many more complications for the organizations that have adopted BYOD, such as management and control of devices integrated into the network, creating a secured, scalable and flexible environment to support multiple devices etc.
How to meet the BYOD challenges?
Data center services providers have comprehensive solutions to overcome the BYOD challenges.
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BYOD Policies: Firstly, the organizations should frame policies to govern the usage of business related applications, software etc. on the employees’ personal device.
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BYOD Agreement: Apart from the removal and blocking of non-secured applications from the device, also clarify employees of strict impositions for the violation of BYOD Policy.
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VPN Security: VPN security solutions offered by data centers is one of the greatest ways to ensure security of data on BYOD devices. It saves the data from any unauthorized network access.
Jailbreak detection, remote device locking, Mobile Device Management (MDM) etc. are part of comprehensive BYOD solutions offered by data centers and other IT management solutions providers.
