BYOD


Giving BYOD a full health check


Companies in a variety of different sectors are benefi ting from BYOD, but can healthcare follow suit? Andrew Jones investigates the pros and cons


B


ring Your Own Device (BYOD) - liter- ally using your own private IT device in the workplace - has become a busi-


ness phenomenon as the popularity of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones has rocketed. Inevitably the healthcare sector will be looking at BYOD as a possible answer to the need for lower spend and to raise productivity, but can it off er this panacea in an environment where rapid, secure communications and its re- liability can be a matter of life and death? T e potential benefi ts of using BYOD build


a strong case for its consideration. Users get to access the Internet and workplace services via their own, and most likely, favourite device, be it a smartphone, or a tablet. T e potential for the organization to save on buying separate equipment for this task is undoubtedly an at- tractive one. For some organizations this can be a highly


successful route to IT provision, but whilst the freedom of using your own device off ers dis- tinct benefi ts it also brings a fresh set of issues and potential problems – and the most press- ing of these for the health sector is the one of security. When dealing with patient records, surgery


administration or other sensitive information, security is an obvious concern. Like most secure IT systems, healthcare security is only as good as the end point, i.e. the equipment that the user relies upon for access, and this is where a basic BYOD strategy can start to show its fl aws. Even if the organization’s servers are secure, it is


About the author


Andrew Jones is director of marketing at Multitone


Even if an organization’s servers are secure, it is much harder to ensure that the user’s own device matches this level of assurance, presenting another set of IT challenges


much harder to ensure that the user’s own de- vice matches this level of assurance – unfortu- nately presenting another set of IT challenges. Administering a large number of BYOD us-


ers and off ering fully secure access (across any number of diff erent potential software and hardware platforms) is easily as resource-inten- sive, both in terms of the team and technology, if not more so, as running a more traditional fl eet of in-house supplied and owned devices.


Reduced costs Justifi ed fears over security do not necessarily rule out using technology in new ways to off er greater productivity with reduced costs though. It is an accepted fact that using well-targeted unifi ed communications systems (those that work in tandem across diff erent technology platforms such as telephones, pagers, email, IM etc.) can off er real-world time, and therefore cost saving benefi ts. Voice over IP (VoIP), which allows voice calls


to be shared across the IT network on diff erent devices, has grown massively in popularity over the last few years and gives a greater degree of fl exibility over the device that team members


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use. Unlike straightforward data fi les, voice calls generally present lower security and con- fi dentiality risks (and are less likely to be stored remotely), and therefore no more of a problem than calling external or mobile phones – which has always been acceptable. However even voice, if it is presented over


a loud audio device, can fall foul of security – live audible data is as much a security breach as that stored on a service, when it contains sensi- tive material. Fears over users taking away devices (and the


data stored on them), when they move to an- other employer for example, are just as founded as anxiety over information being vulnerable to outside infl uences. Fears over the security of BYOD centre around the fact that users can (and have the right to) take their device away with them outside of their role. If the device is actually owned by the health organization there can be much more stringent controls over the security software and other applications that are installed. Unauthorized software, such as spyware and


viruses, updates and external links to software are all potential risks to security. T e wherea-


LAND mobile January 2013


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