What is that? Its Bring Your Own Device. That is the latest trend in end user computing. Instead of the company purchasing the computer for you, you use the allocated amount to buy the device or you supply it. It is suppose to be very popular in the US.
Traditionally, IT/ IS/ MIS sets the configuration of the end user computer or notebook. This may be purchased by the IT, end user department or even the end user. In the end this shiny new box will be configured by IT, for the require suite of software and security products, eg AV, VPN and two factor authentication etc.
Enter BYOD or Bring Your Own Device. This practice has been around for some time in Singapore, but largely confined to the insurance and property sector. There the agents are actually individual businesses. The IT would recommend which models to buy for optimum application performance. Other than that, the rest is end user responsibilities.
That was the picture in 2010. With the introduction of iPad and Android tablets, things turned upside down. Gartner calls it the most radical shift in enterprise end user computing since the PC. Users bring their personal devices to work and expect connectivity to the enterprise repository. How to support these devices to access Sharepoint? (Tip: Use an app called SharePlus). There is also a small growing trend of users using their own personal notebooks eg MacBook Air.
What about security? There are lots of vendors out there are willing to sell you box/es to solve your problem. Note there is no one magic solution to this. You have to tailor these solutions to your environment.
You can
- have the devices co-exist on the WLAN with aggressive monitoring
- move all the personal devices to the quarantine zone and use VPN.
- the list goes on.
Other than information security, who is going to responsible when these devices break down? or OS crashes? These you can handle via management approved policies.