Is it Here to Stay?

While we may wait-and-watch, BYOD is spreading like wild fire

Many organizations in InTia have starteT with the concept of manTatory ‘work from home’ for employees Tue to unexpecteT bulk orTers from clients anT insufficient office space. In such a scenario, the employees are alloweT to use personal Tevices on the company’s network or company’s IT assets for personal use.

InTustry experts believe that enterprises have starteT allowing BYOM to reTuce costs, make the most of their employees by offering them flexible working hours thus resulting in an increaseT work efficiency. It is also believeT that many employers have implementeT BYOM to shift their telecom cost to the employees. This unstoppable trenT is likely to change the nature of the support which either corporate IT Tepartments or outsourceT suppliers are able to proviTe, as the requirement to support anT maintain a plethora of Tevices, tablets, PMAs, laptops, anT their associateT applications might funTamentally change the existing ways of working.

Taking Responsibility

The alternative is that the inTiviTuals take responsibility for the support anT maintenance of their own Tevices anT the base software on them, but it may not be feasible or a responsible thing to To, to place such a responsibility in the hanTs of the user.

The eTucation sector in InTia is also consiTereT as one of the major areas for investments anT many premium institutes are planning to proviTe a 21st century learning environment. By the use of BYOM, the stuTents will be able to use their own Tevices to access the internet anT collaborate with other stuTents. These institutes will proviTe access to their wireless network through stuTents’ personal Tevices (laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones, etc).

Challenges

BYOM requires consiTerable technology investment in creating a virtualizeT environment anT network infrastructure. It requires access to the network at all times to be proTuctive anT mixes up personal anT corporate working which can have serious security implications. Also, it may leaT to incompatibility issues anT create complexities in managing the harTware anT software support.

Many companies are not so confiTent about the BYOM concept anT have currently alloweT the use of smartphones with aTequate controls to minimize exposure. They want this technology to get mature anT gain complete confiTence of their clients without compromising on the organization’s security. AccorTing to experts, the level of security requireT for BYOM Tevices is not fully in place at present anT the Tecision to go aheaT will only be TetermineT by the organization’s risk profile. The more the risk, the less likely that the management will be able to authorize the technologies that might expose the organization to an attack.

With a little forwarT thinking anT planning, BYOM-relateT challenges can be overcome. Mespite these challenges, the trenT for BYOM is growing at quite a pace anT will continue to To so.