It’s no secret that bring your own device (BYOD) can cause problems for companies. From finding the right solutions to allow personal devices to be used as tools for employees, to securing the network against threats that those personal devices could bring in. We reached out to AV integrators and IT providers to give us some quick tips on BYOD. See their answers below:
What’s an example of something you think your customers SHOULD be worried about when it comes to BYOD?
The rendering of content on a local device can be skewed when connecting a BYOD device to a display. This is can be due to differences in resolution, latency due to the type of connection, or the size of the image.
– Steve Greenblatt, President, Control Concepts
Businesses considering BYOD policies are most concerned about potential vulnerabilities that could impact the integrity of enterprise security. High-profile breaches which have dominated headlines for the past several years are most often the result of employees whose devices are infected with malware, lost, stolen, or by personnel who are uninformed about security best practices.
Results from an April 2017 study conducted by the Ponemon Institute showed a rising sensitivity to “visual hacking” risks among professionals while working in public spaces, like cafes and hotel lobbies, which are both susceptible to visual hacking risk. Of those surveyed, 57% said they were somewhat concerned about visual hacking, while 87% reported that they’ve noticed someone looking over their shoulder while working in public spaces.
One of the biggest challenges companies face when they allow personal devices on their networks is keeping employees’ personal data separate from the company’s corporate data and intellectual property. Installing mobile device management (MDM) and Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solutions can manage and remotely wipe corporate data from personal devices without touching personal data. However, without proper policies that spell out acceptable use of personal devices, BYOD can become a litigation pitfall, causing companies to explore the legality of mandates requiring standard corporate security measures on a personal device.
– Vishal Brown, SVP of Professional Services, Yorktel
The global market for BYOD and enterprise mobility is estimated to grow from $35.1 billion in 2016 to $73.3 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 15.87%, per MarketsandMarkets research. While BYOD started out as employees bringing their smartphones and tablets to work, the concept of work has evolved over the past decade, too. For example, we’re currently seeing a trend gaining momentum that is turning the BYOD model upside down and has the potential to have a major effect on quality and cost control: virtual contact centers. In simple terms, a virtual contact center appears to the outside world as a single co-located group for customer service or sales, but is in fact a highly distributed group of agents scattered across multiple locations and even work-at-home configurations. Online retail behemoth Amazon, for instance, recently announced that it’s hiring 5,000 virtual customer service representatives over the next year. As you can imagine, this trend greatly expands the “D” in BYOD to include laptops, workstations, phone systems, headsets and more.
So, the big “worries” previously with BYOD were, how much sensitive company data should be allowed on employees’ personal devices? And, how can we protect that information in the event an employee is terminated or loses their device? In the new BYOD environment — especially as it applies to the virtual contact center — the big question savvy companies are asking is, “How can we create a seamless and consistent experience for our customers, whether they’re contacting a customer service rep in one of our traditional contact centers or a virtual contact center rep working from their home, across a variety of devices, network connections and working environments?”
– John Cray, VP of Product Management, Enghouse Interactive
Few of our clients think through the ramifications of their BYOD policy; usually they see no further than saving some quick money. Of course, there are many factors beyond immediate cost, including ownership, responsibilities of the employer and user and the employer response to the loss, theft or misplacement of these devices, including:
- What happens when a device is lost or stolen.
- What can they do to respond to that loss or theft.
- What can’t they do to respond to that loss or theft.
The first thing every business with BYOD devices needs is a policy to cover their use, loss and/or theft. That can easily be tied into an AUP (acceptable usage policy). What are we dealing with?
- Who owns the data on that BYOD device? How is it controlled?
- If the device is lost or stolen, can you do a remote wipe? Can you track the device?
- If you can connect and do the remote wipe, what happens if the user loses personal data on that device?
The intuitive answers to these questions are not necessarily the legally correct answers, and this varies greatly by jurisdiction. There have already been several cases of users successfully suing employers in this case. So what is an employer to do? Start with the AUP and BOYD policies, spell out clearly that BYOD devices will be completely wiped if lost, and then define “lost” as well. And that is just a start.
– Joshua Liberman, President, Net Sciences Inc.
ASCII Group Member since 1996
On the heels of WannaCry, a major large-scale cyber-attack affecting over 230,000 computers in 99 countries, it’s an important time to revisit BYOD. With BYOD, you are relying on the end user (employee) to handle all maintenance and security patches on their own devices. WannaCry exploited a windows vulnerability that was patched on March, 14, 2017, however any computers which were not properly patched were vulnerable to the ExternalBlue exploit. By allowing non-professionals to manage their own devices, companies are leaving their complete network open to such exploits and dangers. Once a device was effected by WannaCry, it quickly reached out across the LAN and searched for all other computers that were vulnerable on the SMB protocol. One employees misstep, could quickly cause company-wide havoc. BYOD has its advantages but I believe the disadvantages far outweigh the good and companies should be supplying their employees with company managed devices to ensure their own fate.
– Mike Bloomfield, President, Tekie Geek
ASCII Group Member since 2016
What systems do you recommend are conducive to a BYOD environment and what systems do you recommend are NOT conducive to a BYOD environment?
Wireless presentation systems are made for BYOD. The intent is to be able to connect any time of device for display. Wired systems can support BYOD but present more variables with the type of connection that is needed from the device to the display. Wired systems need to be able to accommodate any type of device output from analog VGA to HDMI to Display Port to USB-C to name a few.
– Steve Greenblatt, President, Control Concepts
Advancements in cloud based solutions make BYOD viable by allowing end-users to consume unified communications applications as-a-service (UCaaS) from anywhere, at any time, and on any device. Conversely, premise-based bespoke deployments are limited in their ability to support remote workers, lacking the inherent flexibility conducive to BYOD programs.
For BYOD policies to endure, businesses must ensure that their UCaaS solution is heavily weighted towards mobility, offers the flexibility to align with user workflows, integrates with third-party CRM (and other) applications, and provides a consistent user experience across all devices.
Multi-vendor compatibility accounts for situations where customers, prospects and other external parties employ different (or legacy) technology. With new offerings entering the marketplace almost daily, interoperability between commonly used, standards-based systems, like Cisco Spark and Microsoft Skype for Business, is critical.
In addition to evaluating the platform, we strongly recommend the careful examination of service levels included in the purchase and the costs for needed support. Service providers who offer training for both user onboarding and post-deployment support distinguish themselves from ‘drop ship’ competitors, as well as demonstrating a higher ROI for their customers. Extensive research will show the staggering disparity in both quality and costs.
Also, if your company outsources to a managed services provider, select a partner that employs proven security best practices; ISO 27001 certification and HIPPA compliance are among the most highly regarded certifications for risk mitigation.
– Vishal Brown, SVP of Professional Services, Yorktel
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