Many businesses are now working with a hybrid of IT department led structure and apps which have been brought in by users. In many instances IT departments are not aware of the them and have no plan in place for management or integration into the business. The report from LogMeIn sums it up succinctly:
"the exponential use of personal devices for business purposes, rising levels of business data rapidly flowing into the cloud, and applications brought in and managed by employees themselves in ever-increasing numbers."
This will change the nature of IT environments, their management and business data security. One of the factors driving BYOA is the rise of mobile computing, coupled with the ease of apps that deliver a solution that the user is more comfortable with. This often replaces or adds to an IT department provided solution. Many apps will be used for synch of company as well as private data (think of Dropbox) or collaboration on shared files. Other BYOA include social media and remote access apps. IT support suppliers will have to work with users rather than try to be gatekeepers .
Here are the top 5 BYOA points that all business should know about:
- BYOA is here to stay.
70% of organisations have some presence of BYOA and it’s a trend that is only going to increase. - IT significantly underestimates the scale of BYOA.
IT professionals in a global survey estimated they have, on average, 2.8 applications that were brought into the organisation by employees. But data from the survey in the above mentioned report analysed in the past six months shows the average to be closer to 21 apps–more than 7x what IT estimates. - Consumerisation of Apps is accelerating.
Employees are bringing in their own applications in the first place because they’re unhappy with solutions provided by IT. More than 64% of the time, applications are brought in by employees when a solution already exists. - IT is out of the loop.
More importantly, employees are consulting IT less than half the time when choosing these applications. Then, even after IT endorses these employee-introduced applications, IT is rarely involved in provisioning or managing them. - Security risks are inconsistently managed - if at all.
IT professionals acknowledge that BYOA poses huge security risks, and takes some of the control for technology out of their hands, but many are not actively working to address the problem; only 38% currently have a policy in place.
Clearly the use of user supplied apps is going to increase. The question for businesses and their IT departments is how they can effectively work with users to implement workable policies that will satisfy both the user and the business. As the use and scope of BYOA develops the best way forward is to:
- Work with users/employees and find out what apps they want and use
- Develop a policy that will embrace this use not penalise the user
- Use the above two points to get a strategic plan in place that will benefit the user as well as satisfy the business demands for continuity and security.
_______________________________________________________