Consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to mobile devices in terms of brands, operating systems, networks or apps. The devices meant for personal and social interactions have steadily made their way in to the workplaces. The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend has taken the workplace by storm, forcing worried CIOs to create processes, policies and standards that do not compromise enterprise security and do not impact reputation.
On the other hand, ironically, enterprises are delighted. Fuelling the trend is the fact that businesses are trying to save that extra buck and the employee satisfaction levels go up as they bring their own devices to work. So, what’s to worry about?
Plenty. As mobile devices change, so must the related processes, policies and standards. From a CIO’s perspective, he has to manage a minimum of 5 different operating systems on the mobile side of business, each operating systems having different software platforms and builds, each user having the freedom to download as many applications which have multiple times been proven to gather data from the device, thus increasing the overall threat to the business.
With the organisations moving away from COCP (Company Owned Company Provided) to IOIP (Individually Owned Individually Purchased) devices, even the most cutting-edge tech leaders are feeling overwhelmed by the frantic pace of change in the marketplace. They have to support a variety of devices, which feature all kinds of operating systems in various versions, as well as a clutch of hardware options. While the organisations save on devices, they end up paying a bomb for managing those. The BYOD bubble is pretty close to bursting now.
The upcoming trend of COPE or Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled, promises to fix some of the concerns related to BYOD. The COPE model offers businesses a new way of acknowledging and embracing consumerisation by giving some control back to IT without depriving users of devices that make them more productive.
COPE is a win-win situation for both employees and employers treading the fine balance between security and privacy concerns.
Imagine a scenario where apps and data sent by your organisation to your device are restricted from being accessed by the personal apps. This helps ensure work information is kept separate and secure. So users’ personal apps can’t access work information, and work information can’t be copied and pasted into personal apps or email messages. This way, the employees have more flexibility, whereas the organisation can exercise control over costs, security, and other areas of potential risk such as legal and HR implications. While COPE enables enterprises to better control corporate assets, it also boosts employee satisfaction. This, in turn, results in a surge in productivity and effectiveness.
In the COPE model, workers use devices issued and sanctioned by the organisation instead of using their own devices for work. With COPE, employees can use corporate devices for personal tasks. Workers can post, text, doodle and tweet to their heart’s desire. Also, when employees lose their device, they can be easily wiped remotely adding that extra layer of security for corporate data. A similar analogy will be company issued laptops. The COPE model gives similar kind of control to IT administrators for mobile devices too.
In India , Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd. (Indiabulls) has successfully implemented BlackBerry Balance Technology to keep corporate information on employee owned personal devices separate and secure. With the changing landscape of the mobile industry and the desire for users to have more flexibility and freedom on their corporate devices, the organisation was finding themselves in a difficult position. Therefore, the company wanted to find a solution that allows for a great user experience as well as ensures that the corporate data remains uncompromised.
It is ironical to note that most companies do not hesitate to spend a fortune in securing the corporate desktops and IT systems while completely ignoring the most important mode of communication these days, which is the mobile device. Even if enterprises spent a fraction of their IT budgets in securing the employee or corporate owned devices, the enterprise world would be much secure and safe.
(The writer is Managing Director, BlackBerry, India)