Managing Mobile Devices
By Pam Baker
They are the best of tools and the worst of tools. Mobile computing devices can support the workforce out in the field or make your most sensitive company secrets public knowledge. The only way to simultaneously unleash your workforce and rein in company threats is to control the risks.
Many IT departments mistakenly think they will be more efficient if they let employees set up their own remote access. "While some companies provide mobile devices to employees with e-mail services and other mobile applications, such as CRM, many of these devices are brought into the organization by employees who go out and buy them themselves and then find a way to connect to corporate applications," says Stacy Sudan, Research Analyst, Mobile Enterprise Software at IDC in Framingham, Mass. "It is very difficult for the IT department to keep track of and manage all of the devices that are actually connecting to the corporate network."
Another common error: "The wrong way to manage mobile devices is to have different departments handling different categories of mobile devices," says Ken Dulaney, Vice President of Mobile Computing at Gartner in Stamford, Conn. "Look at all devices in a similar way, and apply policies in a consistent manner across the board." (article continues)
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