BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Are you on Mobile Yet?

Is mobile device integration and use for your enterprise at the top of your agenda? If it isn’t you should consider this: According to research from IDC, the smartphone market alone (we aren’t talking about the mobile applications and web-based apps accessible through mobile) the number of mobile phones at present are upwards of 450 million. A Deloitte forecast predicted that by now, more than 10 million iPads were sold.

Gartner predicts that by the year 2014, a whopping 90% of companies will support enterprise applications and corporate access on personal mobile devices. When the iPhone was first launched, it was regarded as a toy for the rich brats or fancy gadget geeks. It so happens that the smartphone market driven by the likes of iPhone and Blackberry has grown so monstrous in size that no business can choose to ignore it.

Yet, MDM is severely lacking in many enterprises. Most companies don’t have formal policies to adopt a full-fledged Mobile management strategy. An iPass Global Mobile Workforce report which tracks mobility trends and based on a survey revealed that 91% of workforce use their smartphones for work. The corresponding number in the year 2010 was just 69%.

BYOD Strategy Implementation starts with Simple Steps

To map out a mobile management strategy, start with the business itself. The strategy, as such, should be able to address the following points:

• Why do you want to use smartphones and mobile phones for corporate use? [The fact that 91% of people at work use smartphones isn’t the reason].
• Can you establish specific goals for use of mobile at work? For instance, are you deploying mobile devices on your network to increase productivity? Do you want to decrease the need for intensive IT support? Is it a way for you to connect your geographically dispersed, roving workforce?
• Will you be able to isolate business use from personal use on these mobile devices?
• Can you limit the business risk from consumer smartphones?
• Would you be able to institute a lock-down strategy especially when you operate in a sensitive industry, which places high importance on data, Intellectual property rights, proprietary information, etc.?

There’s a lot going on the mobile front at the moment. As usual we’ll keep a tab on the latest and present it to you here. If you need help with implementation of a pragmatic Mobile Data Management protocol, work on the technicalities of deploying corporate access enterprise-wide or to develop a Mobile Strategy for your company, do give us a shout.

We, at The Network Pro, would like to wish you a prosperous New Year.