Mobility is seen by many organisations as a way to improve productivity and increase efficiency. At the forefront of mobility, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) will continue to make the headlines in 2015 as organisations struggle to look for better ways to control IT costs, productivity and security issues associated with BYOD.
Let’s look at three BYOD trends that will impact your organisation in 2015 and I’ll give you some advice on how to strategically plan ahead for them.
1. Employees will turn to phablets for increased productivity
Phablets (smartphones with larger screen sizes) are gaining popularity in the workplace. In 2015, we will see a big push for devices like the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as employees realise these phablets may offer a better solution to meet their on-the-go needs than regular tablets.
Employees will shaft their tablets for a more portable device that will still enable them to do all their work on the go.
Tablets will not fall out of favour completely- it just depends on the needs of the individual user. Do they need to simply enter data and communicate on the go? Or do they need to write detailed notes and proposals on the go? If it’s the latter, they will likely still need a tablet.
2. Security will take centre stage
In 2014 we saw a lot of organisations start investing in and using data-rich, enterprise apps like customer relationship management tools (CRMs) and enterprise resource planning tools (ERPs) to increase employee productivity. Securing these devices - which contain more and more sensitive company data - is a challenge that organisations will face in 2015.
Most organisations will use mobile device management (MDM) tools, but customising each application for security purposes will become time consuming and may affect the user experience.
Security may soon become the responsibility of the application itself, so in 2015, we may see more of these enterprise applications with inbuilt security to help ease concerns of their customers.
3. MDM will start to take on a holistic approach
Monitoring each and every individual mobile device inside an IT network is fast becoming inefficient, time consuming and unfeasible. Security vendors will combine MAM (Mobile Application Management) and MIM (Mobile Information Management) features to their existing MDM solutions.
Organisations will want an all-in-one MDM solution that can take care of all their BYOD security needs. Vendors and organisations will move away from managing each device singularly and start taking a holistic approach to device security - protecting the device, data and applications.
Start planning a big year for BYOD
BYOD will continue to be a big talking point in 2015. As the security vendors build out their products to cater to changing customer needs, we will likely see comprehensive all-in-one MDM solutions.
I challenge you to listen to your employees. They want to bring their devices to work to be more productive. Try to listen to their needs and create - or improve - your BYOD policy based on what will help make their work experience more enjoyable and productive.
Do you have an updated BYOD policy for 2015? We can help you create a policy that caters to your employees changing needs and keeps your data secure. Call us 1300 562 886.