Basic HTML Version
06
magazine
www.binfo.co.uk
agenda
Businesses favour
BYOD, but only on
their terms
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), the practice
of allowing employees to connect personal
phones, tablets and laptops to the company
network, is growing much less quickly than
the alternative of Choose Your Own Device
(CYOD), where companies maintain control
over the network and employees choose
devices from an approved list.
A new survey by Azzurri Communications
shows that despite the promise of reduced
communications’ costs and a happier
workforce, fewer than one in five (17%)
organisations have company-wide BYOD
policies in place today (6% more than last
year), whereas 31% of companies now have a
company-wide CYOD policy (12% more than
last year).
Azzurri describes company-wide
deployments as those in which 75% of
Use tablets to change
business processes
Ovum is urging organisations to take
advantage of growing use of tablets in
the workplace and update and change
business processes.
Richard Absalom, Ovum analyst and
author of
Challenges and Best Practices for
Deploying Tablets in the Enterprise
, said:
“Tablet deployments have the potential to
change the way that businesses operate. The
primary challenge for the enterprise is to turn
tablet usage into a genuinely transformative
deployment.”
Research conducted by Ovum in the second
quarter of 2013 found that 17.6% of employees
have been given a tablet by their employer, up
from 12.5% in 2012. The number of personal
tablet owners reached 44.5%, up from 28.4%
in 2012. Two thirds of employees who owned a
personal tablet said they also used it at work.
Absalom says that providing access to
corporate data should not be done at the
expense of data security or the user experience.
Make the latter too cumbersome, he warns, and
users will stop using the approved device or
application and find their own way of working.
Update data protection
policies now, ICO warns
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is
urging businesses to update their data protection
policies to take into account the greater use of
personal devices in the workplace.
The warning comes after the Royal Veterinary
College was found to have breached the Data
Protection Act when a member of staff lost their
camera, which included a memory card containing
passport images of six job applicants.
ICO advises businesses to:
n
Clarify which types of personal data may be
processed on personal devices and which may not;
n
Use a strong password to secure devices;
n
Enable encryption to store data on the device
securely;
n
Ensure that access to the device is locked or data
automatically deleted if an incorrect password is
input too many times;
n
Use public cloud-based sharing and public backup
services, which have not been fully assessed, with
extreme caution, if at all; and
n
Register devices with a remote locate and wipe
facility to maintain data confidentiality in the event
of loss or theft.
More guidance can be found at
www.ico.org.uk
.
Tablet sales
Worldwide sales of tablets including the new Apple
iPad Air and iPad Mini will exceed 381 million units
in 2017, according to Forrester’s
Global Business And
Consumer Tablet Forecast Update, 2013 to 2017
.
Almost one in five (18%) will be an
enterprise purchase. By 2017,
the global installed base
will have reached 905
million units, with one in
8 people worldwide – and
29% of online consumers
– using a tablet.
www.forrester.com
.
Photo courtesy of Apple.
BYOD out of control
Less than one in five (18%) UK organisations with more than 250 employees has a well
defined network BYOD policy, according to the
Dimension Data Secure Enterprise Mobility
Report
. Even though 90% say they are unable to stop employees using their personal mobile
devices to access enterprise systems, less than one third (30%) have completed a security
assessment of key applications touched by mobile devices. Four out of 10 users are unable
to access critical business applications to perform their job function using personal mobile
devices.
www.dimensiondata.com
Data protection policies must be updated to take
into account greater use of personal devices in the
workplace, including digital cameras like the Canon
PowerShot G16
Phoenix Software
has reported
a surge in
demand
for
Microsoft
Surface tablets from
public sector organisations
attracted by the possibility of an entirely
Windows 8 environment across tablets and
PCs. It is now taking orders for the Surface 2
and Surface Pro 2.
www.phoenixs.co.uk
Half handbag, half computer case, the
Kensington Triple Trek Ultrabook Tote
combines the protection and functionality of
a computer bag with the styling and appeal
of a fashion accessory. The
bag has padded, fleece-
lined compartments for
an Ultrabook, tablet
and smartphone and
incorporates two small
flaps that convert it
into a tablet stand –
a clever feature for
comfortable working
on the go. There is also
room for power cords, files,
stationery, make-up, wallets and other
items inside the bag and in zipped pockets on
the outside. The Tote can be carried or worn
over the shoulder.
www.kensington.com
employees can connect to the network with
a smartphone/tablet/notebook.
Six out of 10 organisations cite CYOD as
the most appropriate strategy for company-
wide deployments compared to just 13% who
favour BYOD.
That said, token adoption of BYOD, where
fewer than 10% of employees can connect
their private devices to the network, is much
the most common option and continues
to grow strongly, up from 43% to 58% of
organisations in the last 12 months.
Rufus Grig, CTO of Azzurri Communications,
said: “CYOD is the best of both worlds – a
controlled network environment that still
offers employees the benefit of a single work/
home device of their choice. CYOD is also less
of a cultural leap for the organisation, since
maintaining ownership of the contract is much
closer to the status quo of corporate provision.”
www.azzurricommunications.com