BYOD IN FOCUS Trend tests IT status quo
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) megatrend will bring sweeping changes and challenges to the way devices are used in the workplace, according to Mark Johnson, Managing Director at Cisco Premier Partner ConvergeOne.
Mark Johnson B
YOD is about end users being able to use the computer and communication devices
they choose to increase productivity and mobility. These can be devices purchased by the employer, purchased by the employee, or both. According to Johnson, BYOD means any device, with any ownership, used anywhere. But adopting BYOD comes with a set of challenges for the IT organisation. Many of the benefits of BYOD, such as having the choice of any device and anywhere, anytime access, run against the grain of traditional IT requirements for security and support.
“Traditionally, IT pre-determined a list of approved workplace devices, typically a standardised desktop, laptop, and even a small, standardised set of mobile phones and smartphones,” said Johnson. “With BYOD, IT must approach the problem differently. Devices are evolving so rapidly that it is impractical to pre-approve each and every device brand and form- factor. It is also impractical to expect IT organisations to have the same level of support for every device.”
Most IT organisations have to establish what types of devices they will permit to access the network, perhaps excluding a category or brand due to unacceptable security readiness or other factors. Support
must also be considered, such as adopting more IT-assisted and self- support models. “Device choice does not mean sacrificing security,” added Johnson. “IT must establish the minimum security baseline that any device should meet to be used on the corporate network, including WiFi security and VPN access. In addition, due to the plethora of devices, it is critical to be able to identify each device connecting to the network and authenticate both the device and end user.”
Most BYOD implementations will have a wide range of devices both corporate and employee owned, including desktop PCs, laptops, netbooks, smartphones, tablets, e- readers and collaboration devices. “On-boarding of new devices should be simple and, ideally, self- service with minimal IT intervention, especially for employee bought devices,” commented Johnson. “IT also needs the ability to push updates to on-boarded devices as required. Ideally, on-boarding should be clientless, meaning no pre-installed software is required. This has an added benefit: If a self-service on-boarding model is successfully implemented it can be easily extended to provide access to guests as well.”
Businesses typically have a wide range of policies they need to implement. Adoption of BYOD must provide a way to enforce policies, which can be more challenging on consumer devices like tablets and smartphones. “Another complication results from the mixing of personal and work tasks on the same device,” noted Johnson. “Access to the Internet, peer-to- peer file sharing and application
use may be subject to different policies when a user is on their personal time and network and when they are accessing the corporate network during work hours.”
Traditionally an employee had a single desktop PC or laptop on the network and probably an IP desk phone. If the employee called IT for support it was likely straightforward to locate that user’s device on the network and troubleshoot the issue. With BYOD adoption, each employee is likely to have three, four or more devices connected to the network simultaneously. “Many of the devices will have multiple modes able to transition from wired Ethernet to WiFi to 3G/4G mobile networks, moving in and out of these different connectivity modes during a session,” stated Johnson. “It is critical for IT to have tools that provide visibility of all the devices on the corporate network and beyond.”
Data protection
One of the largest challenges with any BYOD implementation is ensuring protection of corporate data. If a corporate asset, such as a laptop, is used to access business applications and data, typically that asset is tightly controlled by IT and subject to more restrictive usage policies. “Some industries need to comply with confidentiality regulations and companies need to show compliance is possible with BYOD adoption, which can be more challenging than with a corporate-owned and managed device,” observed Johnson. “IT must have a strategy for protecting business data on all devices. This may include a secure business partition on the device which acts as a container of corporate
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data that can be tightly controlled and may also include the need for a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) application to allow access to sensitive or confidential data without storing the data on the device.”
As wireless access becomes pervasive, performance and reliability expectations are the same as what is expected from the wired network, including reliable connectivity, throughput, application response times, and increasingly voice, video and other real-time collaboration applications. “This fundamental shift demands that IT change the service level of the corporate WLAN network from one of convenience to a mission critical business network, analogous to the wired network,” added Johnson. “Design and operation of the WLAN must include high availability, performance monitoring and mitigation, as well as seamless roaming.”
According to Johnson, the increasing number of devices connected to the network, most likely with each employee having many devices simultaneously connected, can lead to IP address starvation as most legacy IP address plans were created under the assumption of fewer devices. “This may hasten the need for IPv6 deployments both at the Internet edge as well as inside the enterprise network,” he said. “BYOD is undoubtedly the future for employee-focused businesses. Although it represents challenges for IT, it also allows employees to work more comfortably while improving productivity and mobility. This trend is irreversible and every IT organisation will need to quickly adapt to the consumer device phenomenon. n
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