How will you enforce Bring Your Own Device rules for employees?

Do your employees use their own devices to carry out their work? Find out the risk your business faces and how Mobile Device Management can banish them.

There are many benefits for businesses these days of employees using their own devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, to work remotely and carry out the various functions of their jobs. Those benefits for you as a business are likely to be:

• Reduced costs of equipment 
• Increased efficiency 
• Employee satisfaction  
• Decreased burden for IT staff 
• Reduced office space since workers are offsite

However, the benefits of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy can be offset by the significant increase in vulnerability and lack of security you face, if employees’ devices are not managed.

Have you heard of Mobile Device Management?

Many businesses are only just becoming aware of Mobile Device Management or MDM, and how it can protect them against the significant vulnerabilities posed by employees using their own devices to conduct their company business, either remotely or from your premises.

Employees devices are used by them personally

The problem is, that as well as using their own devices to carry out your company business, they are using them personally too, and downloading and sending all kinds of data, without supervision by your IT staff. Which, of course, they are entitled to.

But this poses a risk when it comes to your security and GDPR obligations.

Even as an employer you are not granted access to, or knowledge of, the data and applications your employee accesses and uses, so immediately you face an issue when it comes to any kind of self-management of your employees’ devices, or even enforcing any ‘rules’.

How will you enforce any Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) protocols?

It’s all very well having a policy of BYOD, but how will you implement the protocols? As a business, you might want to control the devices used for your operation, by limiting:

• Downloads 
• Internet browsing 
• Personal calls and texts 
• Watching films and listening to music

And, as a minimum, you may want to enforce the protocols that will enhance your security:

• Antivirus updates 
• Safe storage of business data 
• Forcing backups 
• Password encryption 
• Autolock and remote wiping

Mobile Device Management (MDM) can be complex

Just with the sheer number of devices we use these days, and the individual ways in which we use them, may mean simple protocols are not enough - you have a trust issue, whether you have one employee or a hundred.

Without MDM in place, it’s dubious whether a few BYOD protocols will even be effective. And you’re relying to a large extent on your employees having the knowledge of their own device enough to be able to sign up to any agreements of usage. As is the case with all IT, we often don’t know what we don’t know.

The protection you get with Mobile Device Management

It’s strongly recommended you put a Mobile Device Management plan in place if you have a BYOD policy, to protect your business.

So, what are the main components you need?

• Governing/blocking the websites, applications and systems that can be accessed through your network 
• Automatic, centralised updates for all devices 
• Remote configuration and monitoring 
• Enforcement of passwords, blacklists and other security features 
• Forced backup/restore of corporate data  
• Compliance reporting 
• Remote shutoff/disabling of unauthorised devices and applications

Your MDM plan should also be scalable up or down to flex with your business and changing employee numbers.

No matter how big or small your company, MDM can help protect your business and give you peace of mind.

And, with Cultrix Mobile Device Management, if your system is also hosted by us, it’s on web servers robustly equipped with powerful antivirus, firewall and security software, so anything accessed has already been assured it’s safe.

Want to chat about MDM for your employees’ devices? Get in touch.

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