Articles about BYOD

After nearly two decades of having smartphones and other devices that are exclusively for work purposes, there has been little headway in making Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, a standard practice in the work place. In fact, it is nearly unheard of as a standard accepted business practice.

What exactly is preventing this convenient solution from becoming the norm? Here are a few of the major reasons why BYOD has yet to take off.

Continue reading →

The rise of mobile device use and of BYOD policies in the workplace is bringing about a major shift in the way people communicate at work.

Email solutions provider Newsweaver has produced an infographic looking at the rise of mobile devices for business use. It also looks at how bring your own app (BYOA) and enterprise app use have different effects.

Continue reading →

Mobile devices have become the preferred means of accessing data and applications, wherever and whenever individuals desire. Today, on average, individuals have two to three mobile devices. Employees expect to use their own preferred tools and technologies to do their work; personal mobile devices are chief among them.

Hence, the BYOD movement is now mainstream and growing. In fact, Forrester estimates that 70 percent of mobile professionals will conduct their work on personal smart devices by 2018.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has announced that mobile device management is now available in Office 365 for commercial customers. The feature is built into the office suite and allows administrators to control access to Office 365 data by Android, iOS and Windows Phone tablets and phones.

Security is very much at the heart of Office 365's mobile device management, and it includes a remote wipe feature. For businesses who have embraced the BYOD philosophy, this will bring peace of mind as it allows for the remote removal of Office and associated files even on personal devices.

Continue reading →

Allowing employees to use their own devices for work offers lots of benefits for businesses, but there are risks involved too.

A new report from software company Flexera and research specialist IDC says that enterprises are not doing enough to understand which mobile app behaviors hitting their networks and data are risky, nor are they testing apps for those risky behaviors to ensure proper enforcement of BYOD policies.

Continue reading →

Anyone interested in technology will know that the mobile boom has brought with it new considerations for businesses in the form or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Despite still being a concept that many companies are yet to fully grasp, it is about to be overtaken by a new mobile trend.

WYOD (Wear Your Own Device) is hot on its heels, as wearables and smartwatches continue to gain traction. To shed some light on the growth of WYOD and what businesses need to do to stay ahead of the curve, I spoke to Paula Skokowski from mobile file sharing provider Accellion.

Continue reading →

The BYOD trend is something that often creeps up on companies as employees take the initiative in using their own kit. That can leave businesses with a BYOD environment but no proper policy.

There are many potential benefits to BYOD in terms of employee efficiency and morale, but that's of limited use if it puts the safety of commercial data at risk.

Continue reading →

Android has successfully secured its place as the most used mobile operating system. With this in mind it should come as little surprise that more and more people are bringing Android devices into the workplace -- and for IT departments this can be something of a security nightmare. Today Google announces Android for Work with the aim of grabbing the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) market and making Android more secure and manageable in the workplace.

What does this mean? Work profiles are being introduced to keep business apps and data separate from each other, so employees can use a single device to manage their personal work life. For both employer and employee this brings a number of advantages.

Continue reading →

Businesses are turning increasingly to mobile devices as means of boosting productivity, but if employees are allowed to use their own devices for work it can be difficult to ensure they use approved apps.

Licensing and compliance specialist Flexera Software has a solution in the form of its App Portal. This is a universal enterprise app store which allows self-service delivery across platforms.

Continue reading →

The debate on both sides continues: the pros and cons of incorporating the BYOD concept into the workplace. BYOD has, indeed, become a hot topic where debates on both ends of the discussion-spectrum range from 'lower business costs and happier employees' to 'security hazards and added burdens on IT departments'. Even though proponents would argue that the benefits of incorporating BYOD into business environments outweigh any risks, one only has to examine those very risks to realize their potential for harm is too concerning and cannot just be swept under the proverbial rug.

Here are five reasons your company would want to think twice before adopting a BYOD strategy:

Continue reading →

Now that 2014 is done and dusted, it’s time to look ahead and start thinking about what this year has in store.

We recently had the chance to hear from Getronics CIO Tim Patrick-Smith, who shared his thoughts on what will be some of the key IT trends in 2015.

Continue reading →

Utilizing the power of cloud technology and mobilizing the workforce are two key interests for most organizations, but several issues are currently affecting progress in the field.

In a survey conducted by NaviSite and Time Warner Cable on migration to the cloud and BYOD (bring your own device) support, several key points were brought up on the reasoning behind the slow progress.

Continue reading →

Mobile device management (MDM) solutions have been an enterprise mainstay for years, enabling IT to manage enterprise-owned smartphones and tablets in a way similar to how PCs and laptops are managed -- by taking complete control of them. But when it comes to personal mobile devices entering the IT environment via bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs, MDM solutions struggle to provide the flexibility that IT now requires.

As the name states, MDM is focused on managing devices. It allows IT to control the entire environment of a smart device: provisioning, tracking usage and location, enforcing policies, ensuring security encryption, pushing approved enterprise apps to the device, and locking the device down or wiping it if necessary. It is a heavy-handed but very useful approach to managing corporate-owned smartphones and tablets. When it comes to personally owned devices, however, IT cannot take the same approach. Users don’t want to give IT complete control over their device. They don’t want their usage and location tracked when they aren’t at work. They don’t want to be limited in the kinds of apps they download and use. And they don’t want to give IT the power to access or wipe personal information, such as photos and text messages.

Continue reading →

Enterprises continue to struggle with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as employees continue to demand the freedom that comes with mobility in accordance with new trends. Security has long been discussed as the primary challenge when it comes to BYOD. Yet, other reasons such as network access is fast becoming a key concern for IT departments but also the key frustration for employees.

When it comes to connectivity, employee expectation is that it just works and as such this expectation must not be overlooked when implementing a BYOD roll-out.

Continue reading →

According to a new survey carried out for security device specialist Kensington, 73 percent of executives recognize that BYOD presents greater risks for the organization.

However, 59 percent still approve the use of personal devices for business use and to address concerns 55 percent are planning to invest more in physical security.

Continue reading →