Direct Technology Group Blog

Your mobile device management strategy is going to bleed into every other part of your business, especially in the realms of security and productivity. It is of critical importance that you ensure that your mobile device management platform is working toward your company’s operational goals, but it can be challenging at times to look at this type of technology with its many complications. Let’s dive into what makes for a solid MDM platform.

With so many companies forced to transition to remote technology, it’s no wonder that many questions regarding the use of mobile technology—particularly laptops and smartphones—have risen to the surface. This is especially the case for data sharing between devices and privacy. Let’s take a look at the mobile device’s role in the remote workplace, as well as how many companies have chosen to ensure that they are not putting their data on the line with them.

With Bring Your Own Device and other more mobile tools becoming more and more common (especially with the number of people working from home right now) the ability for a business to retain control of their technology and their data is critical. To accomplish this, Mobile Device Management is an indispensable tool.

There are plenty of reasons - including employee satisfaction, productivity benefits, and cost savings, to boot - that many organizations have adopted BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device) policies. Having said that, it is important that you have a few guidelines and other policies firmly established concerning your employees’ secure use of their own devices… policies, such as:

A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy can be a great way to manage mobile devices. After all, if an employee brings in their own device to use for work, that’s one less device you have to provide (and foot the bill for). This is not to say that implementing BYOD is free of concerns, including data ownership and accountability. However, there is another concern to contend with when an employee uses a personal device for professional purposes: how can you be sure that the data you are reimbursing was used to benefit your business, and not to play Pokemon Go?

Considering the fact that reimbursement for BYOD usage became a requirement after Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service in 2014, this is a very fair concern. While only 36 percent of responses to a Syntonic survey said that 50 percent or more of their employees would utilize their personal smartphones while fulfilling work responsibilities, 77 percent of all respondents expected the utilization of BYOD practices to increase within a year.

Taking those stats into consideration, factor in that a full 87 percent of respondents admitted to relying on their employees to have the ability to access mobile business applications from their personal devices; 43 percent of whom stating that they “highly” depend on this ability. As a result, a total 81 percent of surveyed organizations have already enacted a BYOD policy and of these companies, with 69 percent of them reimbursing their employees for their data usage costs.

The last statistic begs the question: how does one determine the difference between business usage and personal usage on a BYOD device when 26 percent of businesses surveyed admitted that doing so was an issue for them?

47 percent of those who reimburse for BYOD would utilize a stipend system, 29 percent requiring their staff members to calculate out their “work” usage themselves. As a result, fewer than a quarter of those surveyed claimed to accurately reimburse their workers--45 percent claiming to overspend by $100 a year for each employee. Half said that each employee would receive over $50 each month as their return.

It certainly couldn’t have helped that 41 percent of survey respondents had never heard of “split billing solutions.” These are solutions that automatically separate business and personal usage to properly calculate how much is actually owed to the employee. Utilizing a split billing solution could very easily negate the guesswork and honor code associated with BYOD reimbursements, saving many companies a hefty chunk of change.

Does your company utilize a BYOD strategy and, if so, do you have a reliable method of calculating employee reimbursement? Direct Technology Group can help you do so. To talk about your BYOD solution, give us a call at (954) 739-4700.

What’s your plan if an employee loses a mobile device with company data on it? You’ll likely start by asking a lot of questions. When did they last use it? What locations did they visit? Of course, they don’t know--it could have been misplaced at the airport, forgotten in the cab, or left in the booth at a diner. Once you’ve determined that the phone is truly gone, what do you do next?

While your employees will certainly need devices upon which to complete their work, this need can be a point of some contention. After all, every employee will have a preference when it comes to their device and its operation, a preference that doesn’t line up with the device you would supply them with. However, this tension may be relieved by implementing a BYOD policy.

Did you know that a whopping two-thirds of U.S. adults own a smartphone? This figure is still climbing and the presence of employee-owned smartphones has dramatically changed the face of office. Businesses that aren’t prepared for this major influx of devices are setting themselves up for some major problems.

Employees bringing their devices to work is an IT trend known as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). In order to make mobile devices in the workplace work for you, you’re going to need to implement a comprehensive BYOD strategy. If you don’t, then your IT network will be a virtual Wild Wild West of sorts as different devices across the entire technology spectrum access your company’s sensitive data. If some of these devices contain malware or data is downloaded to an employee’s device, and the device becomes lost or stolen, you’d be toast. Crises like these can easily be prevented by having a solid BYOD strategy.

To be sure, the benefits of having mobile devices in the workplace make BYOD worth the effort; employees that use their own devices are more innovative, more productive, and are generally happier about their job. To take advantage of these benefits, you’re going to want to cover all of these bases with your company’s BYOD strategy.

• Identify potential risks: Unsecured devices can easily contain viruses and malware, which can damage your system. Plus, an employee-owned device without privacy protections can pose the problem of hackers stealing the data on the device, which would essentially be stealing your data. By taking into account and protecting your network from every possible risk, you’ll be able to use mobile devices with confidence.
• Define a clear BYOD policy: As is the case with any policy, the clearer you are, the better. A solid BYOD policy encompasses your entire IT infrastructure, along with every possible access point. Additionally, if you’re able to clarify your IT goals and what you’re looking to achieve with mobile devices, then you can draft a BYOD policy that can maximize these goals.
• Consider regulations and compliance issues: If confidential information, like medical records, aren’t stored properly and get leaked by way of mobile devices, it can carry a hefty fine from laws like PCI and HIPAA. Concerning data of this sensitive nature, your BYOD policy needs to follow these laws down to the letter.
• Keep track of used devices: Every device that accesses your network needs to be accounted for. For example, you can’t have random devices logging on, accessing files, and then disappearing with that information. If an employee loses a device with company information on it, or even sells it to a third party, then you would have no idea who would get to see your data.
• Train your staff: When it comes to BYOD, educating your staff is key. If they’re on board with your BYOD policy and fully understand the ramifications of breaking it, then you will be able to rest assured that all of the devices popping up around the office are helping your organization, not hindering it.

As you can imagine, BYOD policies are not a one-size-fits-all policy for every business. Each business has different needs, IT goals, and security risks. Therefore, in order to get the most comprehensive BYOD strategy for your company, you’re going to want to consult with the IT professionals at Direct Technology Group. We know what questions to ask and what to look for in your IT network so that your organization can take full advantage of this trend.

Additionally, we have great tools at our disposal, like our mobile device management solution that can help you control what all of the devices are doing on your network, like adding permissions regarding which files these devices can access. To implement an airtight BYOD strategy for your business, call Direct Technology Group today at (954) 739-4700.

Mobile devices have become such a popular computing medium that they’ve infiltrated the workplace. While the business owner might feel that these mobile devices can help employees gain more regular access to corporate data for more working hours, these same devices could potentially eat up those work hours with time wasted on mobile gaming or other recreational apps. What’s the truth about BYOD? Let’s find out.