Nearly every agency is on a path to embracing mobile technologies. While employees are demanding the ability to use the same devices at work as they do at home, agencies are also recognizing the benefits that enabling tablet and smartphone use can deliver. Between employees who are more responsive outside of work hours and apps that make every job, regardless of industry, much easier, the efficiencies that mobility brings significantly benefit the bottom line.
So, with these tangible benefits why do some agencies hesitate to launch a BYOD program? The single biggest issue is security. Agencies are concerned that mobile devices, if compromised, can leak proprietary information they can’t afford to have revealed.
I recently participated in a series of podcasts about mobile security solutions that can help assuage these fears. The three part series started by looking at mobile device management (MDM) solutions, then focused on mobile application and mobile content management (MCM) solutions before ending with a look at niche security solutions that some may expect to only exist in the pages of a spy novel. Ultimately, I disclosed that the only truly safe mobile environment was one that took advantage of multiple mobile security solutions.
But what about agencies with limited resources or limited IT departments? The purchase and implementation of any mobile security solution may be out of reach for agencies like these, despite the demand for mobile solutions and a need to secure them.
There is another option for agencies that want to embrace mobility but can’t afford to purchase their own, comprehensive suite of mobile security solutions. MDM is now being offered as a service.
Purchasing a MDM solution that is deployed on the organization’s infrastructure requires a capital expenditure and an IT staff to implement. But purchasing MDM as a service turns a large capital expenditure into a recurring operating expense and eliminates the need for a dedicated team of IT professionals to implement into the network. Also, by embracing MDM as a service, troubleshooting and upgrades are handled by the service provider and not the customer, whose core competence isn’t IT.
Mobile devices are becoming as ubiquitous in the workplace as desktop computers and desk phones. And, if smaller agencies want to embrace these new solutions they can’t afford to leave their networks and data in the office, nor can they risk exposing them to security risks of a BYOD program. Thankfully, with MDM available as a service, even the smallest of agencies can make secure mobility a reality for their employees.