Generally considered a challenge for IT departments, Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and consumerisation can also help businesses improve their competitive edge.

Improved IT security

The consumerisation of IT (i.e. consumer IT trends spreading into the business market) is a growing concern in terms of IT security: at a recent meeting, the head of the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d’Information, the French government’s IT security agency, condemned the negligence of certain employees and IT managers with respect to their use of mobile devices and the overall security of the company’s IT system.

Whilst acknowledging that a rigorous security policy was not incompatible with the use of mobile devices (« any attempt to boycott technology such as tablets is futile »), the ANSSI subsequently drew up a list of IT security guidelines designed not only to reprimand users and IT security managers but to reconcile their respective needs through a more rigorous IT security policy, including in particular:

• A detailed map of the IT environment and regular updates
• Tighter network control
• Authentication and password policy
• Implementing asset management tools
• Identical security rules for PCs and mobile devices
• Encryption of sensitive data.

Improved employee satisfaction and a more agile business

In addition to being essential for ensuring a smooth transition to the IT consumerisation/BYOD phase, improving the IT security policy can also help businesses become more flexible and innovative, which in turn are vital for standing out from the competition.

Ensuring comfort, flexibility and productivity for mobile device users are obvious and indisputable benefits: companies now just need to ride the BYOD wave and turn it to their advantage, by:

• Keeping up with changes in new technologies and patterns of use (according to a survey by LANDesk)
• Keeping costs down by launching  a corporate BYOD programme, as Ford has
• New services for employees on the move (remote access to company data, desktop virtualisation, secure storage space in the cloud, developing intranet and mobile apps).
• Improving their competitive edge (communicating more efficiently with colleagues and partners, addressing clients’ needs more quickly).