The impact of Generation Y

Born digital, the kids who grew up with the Internet are appearing in the workforce. It is important to attract and retain the best of this Generation Y, and unified communications and collaboration systems have a role to play.

It is clear from Fujitsu’s research that IT managers and CIOs recognise this. Forty percent of respondents to a recent survey conducted by IDG Connect on Fujitsu’s behalf saw the provision of a unified communication and collaboration (UCC) infrastructure as either very important or important today. In three years’ time, 43% said they expected it to be extremely important, up from today’s 15% figure. Only a tiny minority (4%) perceived it as not very important.

Further, 79% of the survey’s respondents said that their implementation of UCC had been accelerated either moderately or significantly as a consequence of the needs and expectations of Generation Y employees.

As well as the need to deliver a UCC to meet expectations, IT managers further reported that the work styles of a younger generation raised a number of challenges. Core among these is data security (77% said so) and individual IT requirements, such as new devices (54%). For example, the survey found that 82% of end users have a mobile phone or smartphones, and 76% have either a tablet or notebook. Phones and file sharing receive the most organisational support, the survey found.

Other research clearly demonstrates a shift of power away from the centre and towards the end user. This appears unstoppable. More than one survey result shows that many users will break corporate device usage and security policies if the company does not provide devices and adequate infrastructure support, leaving corporate data at risk on unprotected device storage. Not only is there a commercial risk here but the possibility exists that this may expose a company to becoming non-compliant with legislative requirements.

The trend of a growing number of personal devices containing increasing amounts of storage looks set only to continue, as hyper-connected wearable computers start to appear on the market from 2015 onwards.

It is clear that end-user devices are here to stay and there is little or nothing the IT department or the company as a whole can do to hold back the tide. Instead, the organisation must embrace and extend its security and communications systems to include those devices, and continue to educate users in best practices.

mobile device management – MDM

MDM is short for mobile device management.

What is Mobile Device Management (MDM)?

Mobile device management (MDM) is a type of security software used by an IT department to monitor, manage and secure employees’ mobile devices that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across multiple mobile operating systems being used in the organization. Mobile device management software is often combined with additional security services and tools to create a complete mobile device and security Enterprise Mobility Management solution.

The Gartner research firm defines mobile device management as “a range of products and services that enables organizations to deploy and support corporate applications to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, possibly for personal use — enforcing policies and maintaining the desired level of IT control across multiple platforms.”

Mobile Device Management Solutions

Most mobile device management solutions provide organizations with end-to-end security — meaning the mobile apps, network and data used by the mobile device (in addition to the mobile device itself) are managed by an organization’s IT department with a single mobile device software product.

Some enterprise MDM solutions combine mobile security and expense management in a single product. Depending on the vendor and what specific features it supports, you can typically expect mobile device management software to contain some or all of the following features: management and support of mobile applications, mobile policy management, inventory management, security management and telecom service management.

BYOD and Mobile Device Management

The widespread proliferation of consumerization of IT means more personal consumer computing devices — such as smartphones, laptops and tablets — are brought to the workplace by employees for use and connectivity on the corporate network. The phrase BYOD (bring your own device) has become widely adopted to refer to these employees. Today’s category of mobile device management software is one way that an organization can deliver secure mobile solutions to its BYOD workforce.

Recommended Reading: Webopedia’s BYOD, consumerization of IT and security software definitions.

MDM is also short for master data management.

consumerization of IT

Consumerization of IT (“consumerization”) is a phrase used to describe the cycle of information technology (IT) emerging in the consumer market, then spreading to business and government organizations, largely because employees are using the popular “consumer market” technologies and devices at home and then introducing them in the workplace.

Consumerization of IT Security Concerns

Consumerization of IT not only refers to the use of personal consumer electronics at work — like iPhones and tablet PCs — but also online services, including online data storage, Web-based email services (“web mail“), and social media or social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Consumerization of IT is driven by employees who buy their own devices, use their own personal online service accounts, install their own applications and then connect to the corporate network with the device, often without the organization’s knowledge or approval.

For small business, corporate and government organizations, the biggest challenge for IT is that employees using unapproved technologies and devices at work is a network security risk, but even with that understanding is the knowledge that these devices will still come in to the workplace and be used by employees, even if corporate security policies are in place.

Companies Embrace Consumerization of IT

Many companies today have realized that by embracing the consumerization of IT, this will not only save money and increase business agility, but also improve employee productivity.

One popular initiative is called BYOD (“bring your own device”). This phrase has become widely adopted to refer to mobile workers bringing their own mobile devices, such as smartphones, laptops and PDAs, into the workplace for use and connectivity on the corporate network.

Instead of fighting employees who want to BYOD to work, many corporations allow employees to use their own mobile devices at work and implement a “BYOD policy” to help IT better manage these devices and ensure network security is not compromised.

Learn How to Embrace the Consumerization of IT in this CIO Update article.

security software

A general phrase used to describe any software that provides security for a computer or network. There are many types of security software including antivirus software, encryption software, firewall software and spyware removal software. Additionally, many operating systems also come preloaded with security software and tools. The two most common types of security software used for personal computer security are antivirus software (virus protection software) and antispyware software (spyware removal software).

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BYOD – bring your own device

BYOD is short for bring your own device.

In the consumerization of IT, BYOD, or bring your own device, is a phrase that has become widely adopted to refer to employees who bring their own computing devices – such as smartphones, laptops and PDAs – to the workplace for use and connectivity on the secure corporate network.

BYOD Security

Today, employees expect to use personal smartphones and mobile devices at work, making BYOD security a concern for IT teams. Many corporations that allow employees to use their own mobile devices at work implement a BYOD security policy that clearly outlines the company’s position and governance policy to help IT better manage these devices and ensure network security is not compromised by employees using their own devices at work.

BYOD security can be addressed by having IT provide detailed security requirements for each type of personal device that is used in the workplace and connected to the corporate network. For example, IT may require devices to be configured with passwords, prohibit specific types of applications from being installed on the device or require all data on the device to be encrypted. Other BYOD security policy initiatives may include limiting activities that employees are allowed to perform on these devices at work (e.g. email usage is limited to corporate email accounts only) and periodic IT audits to ensure the device is in compliance with the company’s BYOD security policy.

Learn more about BYOD security and policies at CIO Update.

BYOD VoIP Subscription

Another common use of the phrase BYOD can be found in the VoIP industry, and used to describe a specific type of VoIP subscription or plan. Subscribers who have their own VoIP device (a SIP-capable device) when signing up for a VoIP service will usually be able to take advantage of a cheaper subscription plan when they use BYOD – however not all VoIP service providers will offer special rate plans for subscribers with their own equipment. If the BYOD subscription is unavailable through a VoIP provider you will need to use the provider’s equipment instead of your own.

BYOD Brings Corporate Contradictions

CIOs naturally want a BYOD policy in place to give them some level of control, but the reality is that employees will do whatever they want regardless of the policy.

During a roundtable discussion on the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, a tech leader candidly offered this bit of real-world insight: “My wife is a nurse. There is no BYOD policy at the hospital. But all of the nurses communicate with each other via SMS, because that’s the most efficient way to do their job.”

It’s a good bet that those text messages, which are practically impossible for IT to monitor and record, are out of compliance with healthcare regulations. It’s an even better bet that this kind of BYOD-related breach is happening en masse across the country, in virtually every industry.

BYOD Policy Needed but Do They Really Matter?

Organized by Wisegate, an IT advisory service, the roundtable discussion was chock full of contradictions. For instance, CIOs need a formal BYOD policy in place to give them some level of control and, presumably, to cover their butts when something goes wrong. Yet they’re quick to point out that employees will do whatever they want regardless of the policy.

[More BYOD Coverage on CIO.com ]

This has led many CIOs faced with BYOD to go into “a holding pattern,” says Elden Nelson, editor in chief at Wisegate and a former Gartner analyst.

Even standard-fare BYOD practices are running into roadblocks.

A mobile device management (MDM) system is usually the first line of defense to ward off malware on the devices and prevent company data leaks from lost or stolen devices, but MDM has been met with resistance.

For instance, a Wisegate member says his company moved away from ActiveSync’s total remote wipe to an MDM solution that identifies and segments corporate and personal data and apps and thus can remotely wipe only corporate data. Sounds like a win for BYOD-empowered employees, right? Wrong. Many employees saw MDM as the secret listening agent on their personal devices.

“There were many comments about a Big Brother approach,” the Wisegate member says. “We found the users don’t want the company they work for to know what is on their device. Some have chosen not to register with the MDM, either insisting on a company device or not having the access capability at all.”

Most Users Don’t Read BYOD Policies

Educating and training employees about BYOD policies is tricky business. Policies tend to be like every other IT policy, which is to say, excruciatingly difficult to comprehend. Most people scroll to the bottom of an IT policy, check the agreement box and click “OK” — all without reading a single word.

“I don’t think the users understand anything, because you have to read and learn,” says another Wisegate member. “Generally speaking, our society no longer does that very well.”

Then there’s the Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service case throwing a monkey wrench into BYOD. In the first ruling to be binding in the BYOD space, the California Court of Appeal stated in August: “We hold that when employees must use their personal cellphones for work-related calls, Labor Code section 2802 requires the employer to reimburse them.”

The ruling was a hot topic at the roundtable, and Wisegate has this to say about it:

“Several participants commented that this ruling had forced them to suspend or delay any BYOD policy while their legal departments work out what it actually means. The general feeling is that if you allow staff to use their own devices, you will have to pay for any use that was required for business purposes. But what would happen if a member of staff has not been told to use his personal device but does so and then claims it was necessary to do his job properly?”

CIOs might have to reward roguish behavior. In the case of the texting nurses working at a hospital without a BYOD policy, it’s even worse. These nurses are clearly putting the hospital at risk by skirting healthcare regulations on patient privacy. Nevertheless, the nurses may still be entitled to reimbursement for those text messages, if they can show that they were necessary to get their jobs done.

“There’s a wariness with BYOD,” Nelson says.