Tips for Effective BYOD Management
Index: Part of BYOD Strategy Series of articles
The quintessential smartphone has evolved from a high-end consumer product for the executive level business person, to a common man’s necessity. Taking this development into consideration, businesses are now considering implementing Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) programs with an aim to drive employee productivity using new technology.
Managing BYOD
Whether you already permit your personnel to bring their own devices, or are considering doing so, it is important that you have a BYOD management plan in place. With hundreds of different devices migrating to companies, it’s crucial for businesses to implement a system that ensures BYOD security and preserves the integrity of IT systems.
1. Advance Planning: Companies must create a roadmap that identifies in advance the type of devices they will and will not support. Whether the idea is to invest in a mobile device manager, or simply focus on servicing Windows, Android and iPhone users, there should be a set of protocols ready to go. In addition, a business also needs to define the job roles that will qualify for support.
2. Designing Access Policies: Your BYOD management plan must be able to define what personnel need to do in order to gain access to corporate content on their personal devices. For example, you can demand that they password protect their device as before gaining access to sensitive internal information. You should refer to the existing policies you have likely set for your corporate PCs for more ideas.
3. Limiting Behavioral Abilities: For example, for BYOD security, will all your personal device users have permission to download and edit files, or will some of them be restricted to read only?
4. What are Your Support Channels? Are you developing an in house help desk? Do you wish to route your personnel to alternative channels such as Blogs, Wikis and the Web? Be sure to clarify if you offer blanket support to all job roles.
5. Monitoring Actionable Information: If you integrate help desk support for every device, your business will be in a position to collect vital information on what is happening to your personnel in the field. This information will help you create support processes which benefit future initiatives. Companies can also deploy BYOD management systems to monitor compliance towards policies and collect important device information.
6. Regular Compliance Review: It is important that businesses analyze help desk information on a regular basis to ensure maximum BYOD security. Make sure that devices aren’t jail broken and that your content is secure.
It’s more important than ever for your personnel to understand the responsibilities which come with unrestricted access. Review device activities and be open to adjust management policies if deemed necessary to protect your business.
(Original Article by: by Frank Burmon )
