INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology
BYOD = ‘Bring Your
Own Disaster’ ?
A
s adoption of wearables
becomes more mainstream
in the Middle East, it
brings added complexity to BYOD
in an enterprise. One of the more
interesting features of wearable
tech is its ability to tether to, and
control, smartphones over a remote
connection. So even if wearables
are denied access to enterprise
networks, they may already be able
to access it. Which means they can
download and store company data.
Many come with built-in cameras.
This will understandably make IT
departments worried, writes Ammar
Enaya, Regional Director, HPE Aruba,
Middle East & Turkey.
According to recent studies by Aruba,
the new generation of employees
64
INTELLIGENTCIO
–#GenMobile – expect mobility at
the workplace to be a given, so any
blanket decision to ban such devices
from the workplace will be highly
unpopular. In fact, almost two thirds
of study respondents say they use
mobile devices to help them manage
their work and personal lives better.
If the decision is made to accept
wearables into the organisation, it is
unlikely that existing BYOD policies
that govern the use of corporate
data be enough – new policies will be
required.
When tinkering with these policies,
CIOs have to keep in mind the fact
that there will be other IoT-based
devices coming along that could
be embedded into an employee’s
clothing or even office kitchen
appliances. The acronym “BYOD” will
soon have to be replaced with “BYOX”,
with the “X” symbolising “practically
anything”.
Failure of first generation of
BYOD policies – Lessons to be
learnt
The first generation of BYOD devices
received similar levels of access
to the network, in a fairly uniform
approach. This needs to stop. CIOs
should now turn their attention to
the context of the use case, and the
underlying communications network.
This means putting in place solutions
that can secure any mobile device
that connects to corporate Wi-Fi;
giving them complete visibility of
the number, type and frequency
of mobile devices assessing their
network.
By incorporating these new levels
of network visibility, companies
will also be able to identify specific
applications and who is using them.
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